Russia blew up Ukrainian power plants overnight, plunging a third of the country into darkness in apparent revenge for its armies being routed in the east.
Kirill Stremousov, who is one of the leaders of the Russian-imposed authorities in occupied Kherson in southern Ukraine, has posted to Telegram this morning a message that references the reported territorial losses for Russian forces to the north, while striking a defiant tone about the future of Kherson. The post reads:
Stremousov is at his workplace in Kherson. Kherson is and will be a Russian city. No one is going to surrender the city, let alone retreat.
Following the death of Her Majesty the Queen, Charles has become King, and Camilla, Queen Consort. Prior to being head of the monarchy, the then-Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, resided at Clarence House in London, with other homes including Highgrove House in Gloucestershire, and Llwynywermod in Wales.
A move to Buckingham Palace would be in keeping with tradition, as it has been the official home of British monarchs since 1837. Buckingham Palace has an impressive 775 rooms, including 19 State rooms, 52 royal and guest bedrooms, 188 staff bedrooms, 92 offices, and 78 bathrooms. It also has a Post Office, cinema, swimming pool, doctor's surgery, and jeweller's workshop. The Palace garden is the largest private garden in London, which includes a tennis court, lake, and helicopter pad.
Buckingham Palace is currently embarking on a 10-year renovation project in order to keep the building fit for the future. With the royal residence welcoming around half a million people each summer, the changes to make the Palace safe include a new lift installation, and repair work on aged electrical wiring, water pipes and boilers.
Along the entire perimeter of the Kherson region, the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation has built lines of defence and nothing threatens the city of Kherson and the Kherson region.
Regarding the situation in the Kharkiv region, many of us are at a loss about the current situation. Time will put everything in its place and we will definitely get answers to our questions.
In the city of Kherson, everything is calm and there is no panic. We will go on the air more often and give most up-to-date information.
Charles and Camilla's Welsh home, Llwynywermod, in the small village of Myddfai in Carmarthenshire, was bought in 2007 for £1.2 million. Situated on the edge of the Brecon Beacons, the luxurious farmhouse includes three cottages, a Grade II-listed barn and a separate main house.
Originally built as a model farm, the property was transformed by architect Craig Hamilton who implemented Charles' philosophy of building sustainably. The house is made from existing and locally sourced materials, including Welsh slate and lime plaster, there's rainwater storage, and heating and hot water comes from a wood chip boiler.
As for the interiors, Llwynywermod has a lovely main reception room with grand high ceilings and exposed wooden beams, plus three bedrooms, and a bathroom with cream walls and tiles. The interiors were designed by Annabel Elliot, who used predominantly local furniture, textiles and objects. The outside space is picture-perfect. Surrounded by 192 acres of countryside, it includes six English field maples which formed the avenue of trees at William and Kate's 2011 wedding, which were later replanted at Llwynywermod.
Here is an image that has been supplied to the newswires showing smoke rising earlier this morning in the aftermath of a Russian attack on the electricity supply in Kharkiv.
Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to President Zelensky, said strikes on Kharkiv's largest electric plant cut power in that region and Donetsk, and caused partial blackouts in Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk and Sumy. Separate strikes took out water supplies.
King Charles III will lead the Royal family in a procession behind the coffin of his mother when it travels to an Edinburgh cathedral to allow the public to pay their respects.
At 2.35pm on Monday, the late Queen’s coffin will be driven 1,200 yards along Edinburgh’s Royal Mile from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to the 14th century St Giles’ Cathedral.
Her four children will follow, shoulder-to-shoulder, on foot, seen together in public for the first time since her death.
On Monday morning the King will address MPs and peers in Parliament’s Westminster Hall – a decade after his mother did the same.
Clarence House has been the royal residence of many members of the Royal Family throughout the last 170 years. It was the official London residence of King Charles before the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
Located just a short stroll away from Buckingham Palace, Clarence House was built in the 1820s and has five bedrooms, a drawing room with a central fireplace, a morning room filled with personal photographs, artworks and antiques, and additional principle rooms which have been used for receptions and other official entertaining over the years.
To prepare the building, Clarence House underwent extensive refurbishment and redecoration. The renovation included new colour schemes, updated textiles, and several new pieces from the Royal Collection and from King Charles' own art collection.
Shah’s lifestyle on Dubai’s luxurious palm-shaped island over the past few years had sparked outrage in Denmark. After Danish authorities signed an extradition agreement with the UAE, Dubai police arrested Shah in June. Shah is one of several suspects in the tax scheme sought by Danish authorities.
During his time in Dubai, the hedge fund manager ran a center for autistic children that shut down in 2020 as Denmark tried to extradite him. He also oversaw a British-based charity, Autism Rocks, which raised funds through concerts and performances.
His arrest comes as pressure grows on Dubai, the region’s financial hub, over its alleged weaknesses in combating illicit finance. The UAE, a federation of seven sheikhdoms, has long invited the wealthy, including disgraced public figures, to invest in the country without questioning where they made their money. Scrutiny of Dubai has intensified as the flashy city-state becomes a haven for Russian money amid Moscow's war on Ukraine.
In recent months, however, the UAE has arrested several suspects wanted for major crimes, including two of the Gupta brothers from South Africa, accused of facilitating vast public corruption and draining state resources with former President Jacob Zuma. An Emirati official also recently became president of Interpol, the international policeagency.
The new monarch will accept addresses of condolence from the House of Lords and the House of Commons, before making a speech in the historic 11th-century building.
The King will then embark on a tour of the United Kingdom, visiting Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Follow the latest updates below.
Prince Harry statement expected today
We are expecting a tribute from the Duke of Sussex today.
We'll bring it to you here as soon as we have it.
Prince William and Harry’s reconciliation is just for mourning, not for life
Reunited in sorrow, it was the moment the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Sussex put their differences aside in honour of their beloved “Grannie”.
Appearing alongside their wives, the Princess of Wales and the Duchess of Sussex, for their first joint appearance since that Oprah Winfrey interview two years ago, it was the remarkable royal walkabout that was supposed to pave the road to reconciliation.
But with the spectre of Prince Harry’s tell-all memoirs hanging like a Sword of Damocles over the House of Windsor, a question mark remains over whether this is just a temporary truce or the beginnings of a more abiding amnesty.
Paddington Bear and marmalade sandwiches - Britain's touching tributes to its witty Queen
A Dubai court ruled on Monday that a British man suspected of masterminding a $1.7 billion tax scheme cannot be extradited to Denmark to face charges.
The decision in the high-profile case grants the hedge fund trader, Sanjay Shah, a victory against Danish authorities who sought him for his role in one of the country’s largest-ever fraud cases. Monday’s court ruling, delivered after a closed-door hearing and without explanation, can be appealed by prosecutors within 30 days.
The elaborate tax scheme, which ran for three years beginning in 2012, allegedly involved foreign businesses pretending to own shares in Danish companies and claiming tax refunds for which they were not eligible.
“Of course we will try to get him (out) on bail now immediately,” Shah’s lawyer, Ali al-Zarooni, told The Associated Press from the Dubai courthouse.
The 52-year-old financier has maintained his innocence in past interviews with journalists but never appeared in Denmark to answer accusations. Al-Zarooni had contested the extradition, arguing the Nordic country had “breached" the rules of international extradition treaties in unspecified ways. He declined to elaborate on Monday.
It was one of the most memorable moments of Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee.
In a surprise sketch, Paddington Bear produces a marmalade sandwich and explains he always keeps one for emergencies.
“So do I,” the Queen responds as she fishes a sandwich from her handbag. "For later."
And now, in the days following the Queen’s death, Paddington Bear and marmalade sandwiches have come to symbolise the country’s affection for her.
Davey: King's appearance in Westminster will be one of 'great sadness'
Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said the King's appearance in Parliament on Monday will be a moment of "reflection" and "great sadness".
Charles and the Queen Consort will visit Westminster Hall where both Houses of Parliament will express their condolences to the new monarch and his wife, and the King will give his reply.
"It's a part of Westminster which is resplendent with history," Sir Ed told Sky News.
"I think we'll all be very proud - proud of our country, proud of our amazing monarchy.
"But it will also be a moment of reflection, as you said, and a moment of great sadness."
Tube hit by power failure
The London Underground has been hit by a power failure as thousands of mourners are expected to descend on the capital to pay tribute to the late Queen.
Transport for London said the issue means there is no Piccadilly line service between Hyde Park Corner and Cockfosters.
There are "severe delays" on the rest of the line.
It has also been reported that the Victoria line is suspended because of power supply problems, with several stations closed.
We will update this story to keep you informed on how it might impact your travel.
City of Edinburgh has 'done us proud'
Cammy Day said there has been an "outpouring" from people celebrating the Queen following her death.
Edinburgh City Council leader told BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme: "We saw yesterday as Her Majesty's cortege came into the city from the Forth Road Bridge pretty much all the way along there were people out from their communities, I suppose celebrating the commitment Her Majesty made to public life and to our city.
"A strong and long lasting relationship we've had with the Queen, and I think always will remember, and that was proven yesterday by the thousands of people who were out on the whole of the journey into the heart of the city.
"It's done us proud, the capital city and the people who have made the journey here to be with Her Majesty on her final journey and to welcome the new King to the city as we will do today is something we will all be immensely proud of."
Edinburgh prepares for special send off
Edinburgh City Council leader Cammy Day told BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme that the city was expecting large crowds on Monday.
"We're expecting tens of thousands of people to be up and down the High Street as Her Majesty comes up to St Giles' and then onwards from there tomorrow," he said.
"Our advice to people is to get to the city centre as quickly and early as you can, use public transport because the city has diversions or road closures.
"We are looking forward to welcoming tens of thousands of people to give Her Majesty the send off that the city will give her."
Mr Day said the queue from St Giles' Cathedral could potentially spiral back as far as The Meadows as people wait to pay their respects.
London prepares for the Queen's funeral
Preparations are underway in London for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth IICREDIT: ANADOL
ous contribution to New Zealand'
New Zealand will have a one-off bank holiday on September 26 to mark the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday.
"This, I hope, will be a chance to acknowledge a lifetime of service to New Zealand by Queen Elizabeth II," Ms Ardern said.
"We need to acknowledge here (that) this is a one-in-70-year event. The Queen was our sovereign, our head of state.
"She made an enormous contribution to New Zealand through her public service. This marks a significant end to a chapter."
New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern speaks about a bank holiday on September 26CREDIT: AFP
A state memorial service will be held in the capital's Cathedral of St Paul on the same day.
Ms Ardern confirmed she will leave New Zealand on September 14 to attend the late Queen's funeral in London, immediately after which she will fly to the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is also flying to London to attend the funeral.
On Sunday, Australia and New Zealand officially named King Charles III as monarch.
Both former British colonies have been independent for decades but retain the monarch as their head of state.
Mr Podolyak branded it 'a coward's response to the escape of [Russia's] own army from the battlefield' while Zelensky vowed: 'Cold, hunger, darkness and thirst - for us not as scary and deadly as your "friendship and brotherhood."
But history will put everything in place. And we will be with gas, lights, water and food.. and WITHOUT you!'
It came after Ukraine's army mounted a stunning counter-attack east out of Kharkiv at the weekend - breaking through poorly-defended Russian lines, routing Putin's troops, and capturing more than 1,000 square miles of territory.
tock index futures are higher in the early going Monday as investors brace for the last full week of economic numbers before the next Fed decision.
Nasdaq futures (NDX:IND) +0.4%, S&P futures (SPX) +0.2% and Dow futures (INDU) +0.2% are up a bit.
The S&P "mounted a solid 3.65% rally last week with confirmation from two NYSE 80% up days (9/7 and 9/9), as well as from a bullish outside week, as oversold breadth indicators trumped a lack of true capitulation from tactical sentiment," BofA technical strategist Stephen Suttmeier wrote.
Rates are steady with the 10-year Treasury yield (US10Y) is flat at 3.32% and the 2-year yield (US2Y) is down 1 basis point to 3.56%.
There are no indicators on tap for today, but attention is already turning to the August CPI out tomorrow. The consensus now is for a small drop in the headline month-to-month number.
"The recent slump in commodities, with WTI firmly below $100 per barrel throughout the month, is likely to put downward pressure on the headline number as are gas prices being down -12% over the month," Deutsche Bank's Jim Reid wrote. "However, the resilience of the labour market is among the forces that could propel the core gauge higher."
"Expect a fair amount of attention on what now seems to be sharp falls in used cars after runaway price rises during covid. On the flip side our models suggest rents should continue to climb for a few more months before falling. So they'll likely be a few opposing forces in the release."
In company new, Disney's CEO reportedly rejected a call for an ESPN
As the war in Ukraine marks 200 days, the country has reclaimed broad swaths of the south and east in a long-anticipated counteroffensive that has dealt a heavy blow to Russia.
USAID Administrator Samantha Power told reporters that such moves will increase international and local trust in the government's intentions.
“Assistance alone would not put an end to this country's woes,” Power said. “I stressed to the Sri Lankan president in my meeting earlier today that political reforms and political accountability must go hand in hand with economic reforms and economic accountability.”
She said that international investor confidence will increase as the government tackles corruption and proceeds with long sought governance reforms. "As citizens see the government visibly following through on the commitment to bring about meaningful change, that in turn increases societal support for the tough economic reforms ahead,” she said.
Political Cartoons on World Leaders
The counterattack began in the final days of August and at first focused on the southern region of Kherson, which was swept by Russian forces in the opening days of the invasion. But just as Moscow redirected attention and troops there, Ukraine launched another, highly effective offensive in the northeastern region of Kharkiv.
Facing the prospect of a large group of its forces becoming surrounded, Moscow ordered a troop pullback from Kharkiv, in a dramatic change of the state of play that posed the biggest challenge to the Kremlin since it launched the invasion Feb. 24.
A man who stalked CSI Miami actress Eva LaRue for over a decade, threatening to rape and kill both her and her daughter was sentenced to prison last week after the FBI caught him through DNA he left on fast food straw.
James David Rogers, 58, of Heath, Ohio, was sentenced on Thursday to 40 months in federal prison, according to a Department of Justice press release.
Russia’s military acknowledged on Saturday that it was withdrawing from Kupyansk and Izyum, saying it was regrouping forces to defend Donetsk, which Moscow sent irregular troops to seize in 2014.
Ukrainian troops took most of Kupyansk on Saturday, but the situation in Izyum couldn't be immediately determined. Despite Russia saying it was withdrawing, there was no evidence Ukrainian forces had penetrated to the center of the city, indicating that some Russian forces may be trapped there and fighting.
Since launching an offensive last week, Ukraine has made rapid-fire gains, taking back in a matter of days swaths of territory in the country’s east that Russians seized over the course of months.
“These days, the Russian army is showing its best side—its back,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a statement on his Telegram channel.
Ukraine’s flushing out of Russian forces from the western bank of the Oskil River relieves the pressure on the cities of Slovyansk and Kramatorsk to the south. The Ukrainian mayor of Lyman to the northeast of Slovyansk said late Saturday that Russia still held the city but that Ukrainian troops were fighting on the outskirts.
Russia had for months been advancing in Ukraine’s east after launching its invasion. After Ukraine repelled Russian forces from Kyiv, the capital, in spring, Moscow began leveling cities in the east with waves of artillery and air power. Russian troops then marched into the cities, sometimes fighting Ukrainian forces street by street to secure control.
But the grinding offensive against dogged Ukrainian resistance exhausted Russian troops. In July, Ukraine began striking Russian ammunition depots and command posts with long-range missiles provided by the U.S. Russia moved thousands of troops to the south of Ukraine as Kyiv touted an offensive there, leaving them stretched on the eastern front.
From March 2007 to June 2015, Rogers mailed about 37 handwritten and typed letters to LaRue's California home in which he threatened both LaRue and her daughter, it was revealed.
LaRue, 55, an actress also known for her longtime role on 'All My Children,' was midway through her second full season on 'CSI: Miami' when the first letter showed up at her house in 2007. Many more followed over the next 12 years.
'I am going to f**king stalk you until the day you die,' said one, according to a 2019 federal indictment of Rogers.
'There will be no place on this earth that I ... (can't) find you. I am going to rape you,' another letter read, as the stalker also threatened to rape and impregnate LaRue's daughter.
Each letter was signed with the name 'Freddie Krueger,' the fictional serial killer from the horror film series 'A Nightmare on Elm Street.'
Over the years, the FBI collected DNA from the envelopes but were not able to identify the culprit until 2019 with the help of genetic genealogy - the same method used to catch the Golden State Killer the previous year.
Ukraine's military says its forces have retaken over 3,000 sq km (1,158 sq miles) during a rapid counter-offensive in eastern Ukraine.
The remarkable advance, if confirmed, means Kyiv's forces have tripled their stated gains in little over 48 hours.
On Thursday evening, President Zelensky put the figure at 1,000 sq km, and then 2,000 sq km on Saturday evening.
The BBC cannot verify the Ukrainian figures, and journalists have been denied access to the frontlines.
On Saturday, the eastern counter-attack saw Ukrainian troops enter the vital Russian-held supply towns of Izyum and Kupiansk.
But UK defence officials have warned that fighting has continued outside those towns. And officials in Kyiv said Ukrainian forces were still fighting to gain control of a number of settlements around Izyum.
Russia's defence ministry confirmed its forces' retreat from Izyum itself and Kupiansk, which it said would allow its forces "to regroup" in territory held by Moscow-backed separatists.
The Russian ministry also confirmed the withdrawal of troops from a third key town, Balaklyia, in order to "bolster efforts" on the Donetsk front. Ukrainian forces entered the town on Friday.
At the same time, the head of the Russia-installed administration in the Kharkiv region recommended that its people evacuate to Russia "to save lives".
Shock and joy in Ukraine's liberated villages
Unverified footage on social media appeared to show long queues of traffic building up at border crossings. The governor of the Belgorod border region in Russia, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said "thousands" of people had crossed into the country.
Mr Gladkov said on Saturday that mobile catering, heating, and medical assistance would be available to people fleeing the Ukrainian advance.
Meanwhile, Gen Valerii Zaluzhnyi, commander of Ukraine's military, said his forces had advanced to within 50km (31 miles) of the Russian border.
The pace of the counter-attack has caught the Russians off guard, and Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov - a staunch supporter of President Vladimir Putin - appeared to question the Russian retreat.
In a message posted to Telegram, Mr Kadyrov said if there was not a change in Russian fortunes, he would be forced to question the country's leadership to explain the situation.
But Russians still hold around a fifth of the country, and few imagine a swift end to the war. And Mr Kadyrov himself insisted "Russia will win" and "Nato weapons" would be "crushed".
In an interview with the Financial Times, Ukraine's defence minister Oleksii Reznikov hailed his troops, but warned of the potential for a Russian counter-attack.
"A counter-offensive liberates territory and after that you have to control it and be ready to defend it," Mr Reznikov said. "Of course, we have to be worried, this war has worried us for years."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy commended the military in a video address late Saturday, saying it has reclaimed about 2,000 square kilometers (over 770 square miles) of territory so far this month. He also taunted Moscow over its withdrawal, saying the Russian army was “demonstrating the best it can do — showing its back” and “they made a good choice to run.”
Both sides have suffered heavy losses in Europe's largest conflict since World War II. Ukraine’s military chief said last month that nearly 9,000 of the country's soldiers have been killed in action. And while Moscow hasn't reported its own losses since March, Western estimates put the toll as high as 25,000 dead, with the wounded, captured and deserters bringing the overall Russian losses to more than 80,000.
Ukraine has sought to mobilize the population to reach an active military of 1 million people, while Russia, in contrast, has continued to rely on a limited contingent of volunteers for fear that a mass mobilization could fuel discontent and upset internal stability.
As the war slogs on, a growing flow of Western weapons over the summer is now playing a key role in the counteroffensive, helping Ukraine significantly boost its precision strike capability.
Since the counteroffensive began, Ukraine said, its forces have reclaimed more than 30 settlements in the Kharkiv region.
In the Kherson region, troops sought to drive Russian forces from their foothold on the west bank of the Dnieper River, a potential vantage point for a push deeper into Ukraine by Moscow.
The city of Kherson, an economic hub at the confluence of the Dnieper and the Black Sea with a prewar population of about 300,000, was the first major population center to fall in the war.
Russian forces also have made inroads into the Zaporizhzhia region farther north, where they seized Europe's largest nuclear power plant. The last of its six reactors was shut down Sunday after operating in a risky “island mode" for several days to generate electricity for the plant's crucial coling systems after one of the power lines was restored.
Moscow has installed puppet administrations in occupied areas, introduced its currency, handed out Russian passports and prepared for local plebiscites to pave the way for annexation. But the counteroffensive has derailed those plans, with a top Moscow-backed official in Kherson saying the vote there needs to be put off.
A jubilant Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky mocked Moscow in a video address, saying “the Russian army in these days is demonstrating the best that it can do, showing its back”
Ukraine’s quick action to reclaim Russia-occupied areas in the northeastern Kharkiv region forced Moscow to withdraw its troops to prevent them from being surrounded and leave behind significant numbers of weapons and munitions in a hasty retreat.
On Sunday, the president also posted a video of Ukrainian soldiers hoisting the national flag over Chkalovske, another town they reclaimed from the Russians in the counteroffensive.
Ukraine’s military chief, General Valerii Zaluzhny, said Ukraine has liberated about 1,160 square miles since the beginning of September and was within some 30 miles of the border with Russia.
The pullback by Moscow’s forces marked the biggest battlefield success for Ukrainian forces since they thwarted a Russian attempt to seize the capital, Kyiv, at the start of the war in February.
Ukraine’s attack in the Kharkiv region came as a surprise for Moscow, which had relocated many of its troops from the area to the south in expectation of the main Ukrainian counteroffensive there.
In an awkward attempt to save face, the Russian Defence Ministry said the troops’ withdrawal from Izyum and other areas in the Kharkiv region was intended to strengthen Russian forces in the neighbouring Donetsk region to the south.
The group of Russian forces around Izyum has been key to Moscow’s effort to capture the Donetsk region, and the pullback will now dramatically weaken the Russian capability to press its offensive to Ukrainian strongholds of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk just to the south.
Igor Strelkov, who led Russia-backed separatists in the early months of the conflict in the Donbas when it erupted in 2014, mocked the Russian Defence Ministry’s explanation of the retreat, suggesting that handing over Russia’s own territory near the border to Ukraine was a “contribution to Ukrainian settlement”.
The retreat drew angry comments from Russian military bloggers and nationalist commentators, who bemoaned it as a major defeat and urged the Kremlin to respond by stepping up war efforts.
Many scathingly criticised Russian authorities for continuing with fireworks and other lavish festivities in Moscow that marked a city holiday on Saturday despite the debacle in Ukraine. There were also reports of some local Russian councils calling on President Vladimir Putin to resign, in a potential sign of growing internal opposition to the all-powerful leader.
Pro-Kremlin political analyst Sergei Markov criticised the festivities in Moscow as a grave political mistake.
“The fireworks in Moscow on a tragic day of Russia’s military defeat will have extremely serious political consequences,” Mr Markov wrote on his messaging app channel.
“Authorities mustn’t celebrate when people are mourning.”
In a sign of a potential rift in the Russian leadership, Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-backed leader of Chechnya, said the retreat from the Kharkiv region resulted from the Russian military leadership’s blunders.
“They have made mistakes and I think they will draw the necessary conclusions,” Mr Kadyrov said.
“If they don’t make changes in the strategy of conducting the special military operation in the next day or two, I will be forced to contact the leadership of the Defence Ministry and the leadership of the country to explain the real situation on the ground.”
Despite Ukraine’s gains, the US secretary of state Antony Blinken and Jens Stoltenberg, secretary-general of Nato, warned the war would still likely drag on for months
For anyone contemplating a top administrative position in the Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine, Kyiv authorities have a message: Be afraid. Very afraid.
Since Russian forces invaded in late February and began seizing Ukrainian cities and towns, close to 20 Kremlin-backed officials or their local Ukrainian collaborators have been killed or injured in a wave of assassinations and attempted killings.
They have been gunned down, blown up, hanged and poisoned — an array of methods that reflects the determination of the Ukrainian hit squads and saboteurs often operating deep inside enemy-controlled territory. The unpredictability of the attacks is meant to terrify anyone who might agree to serve in the puppet governments Russia has been creating with an eye toward staging sham referendums and ultimately annexing the occupied lands.
The developer has sold 118 of 158 residential units at an average selling price of S$2,100 per sq ft. (PHOTO: Frasers Property)
SINGAPORE — Frasers Property Singapore said its Sky Eden@Bedok condominium project has sold about 75 per cent of all units on the first day of launch on Wednesday (7 September).
The developer has sold 118 of 158 residential units at an average selling price of S$2,100 per sq ft (psf), according to a statement on Thursday.
Sky Eden@Bedok, the first residential launch in Bedok Town Centre in 10 years, was originally slated to start sales on 10 September after the preview, which started from 27 August.
All two-bedroom units ranging from 657 sq ft to 743 sq ft, and priced from S$1.31 million have been sold. The remaining are three-bedroom and four-bedroom units ranging between 1,087 sq ft and 1,302 sq ft.
Sky Eden@Bedok is scheduled for completion in the first-half of 2027. The 99-year leasehold mixed-used development will also have a retail podium on the ground floor comprising 12 shops.
Centrepoint Trust, for S$108 million in September 2020.
Sky Eden@Bedok's accessible location in a mature estate proved to be a huge draw for buyers, Lorraine Shiow, acting chief operating officer of Singapore residential at Frasers Property, said.
"Moreover, home buyers appreciate the property's proximity to thriving economic hubs in Changi and Paya Lebar, which are set to undergo further rejuvenation and add more vibrancy to Singapore's East," Shiow added.
Located in the outside central region, the development is within walking distance of Bedok MRT station and bus interchange. Schools such as Red Swastika School, Yu Neng Primary School and Temasek Junior College are located within 1km of the condominium.
Artem Bardin, the military commandant in Berdyansk, a port city on the Sea of Azov that Russia seized early in the war, was critically injured when a car exploded near the city administration building, according to Russia’s Tass news agency, which described the incident as a “terrorist act.”
Bardin’s legs were blown off and he suffered extensive blood loss, but he was alive, Vladimir Rogov, a Ukrainian who works as a pro-Russian official, told Tass. “Doctors continue to fight for his life,” Rogov said.
Earlier reports that Bardin had died could not be independently confirmed, but there was no doubt that he would not be returning to his official duties in the occupied city any time soon.
As Ukrainian soldiers press forward in the country’s south and east to try to reclaim occupied territories, Ukrainian authorities say the shadowy behind-the-lines operations are undermining, if not outright thwarting, Moscow’s plans to take political control, and especially to stage the sham referendums the Kremlin hoped to use to justifyannexation.
In addition to the targeted killings, the Ukrainians have carried out attacks on Russian ammunition depots and other crucial military installations and assets in occupied Crimea.
Two women have been condemned to death in Iran because of their links to the LGBTQ+ community on social media, human rights groups have reported.
Zahra Seddiqi Hamedani, 31, and Elham Choubdar, 24, were found guilty of a number of charges by a court in Urmia, in the Iranian province of West Azerbaijan, on 1 September but the details of their sentences only emerged this week.
According to Hangaw, a Kurdish human rights group, Seddiqi Hamedani and Choubdar were found guilty of “corruption on Earth” for “promoting homosexuality”, “promoting Christianity” and “communicating with the media opposing the Islamic Republic”. They were also found guilty of sex trafficking, a charge that human right activists say is fabricated.
Homosexuality is illegal in Iran and punishable by death under the sharia penal code.
Seddiqi Hamedani was arrested in Iran in October 2021 as she was trying to cross the border to Turkey, where she was hoping to claim asylum. In May that year she appeared in a documentary for the BBC Persian service, speaking about the abuse faced by the LGBTQ+ community in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq, where she was living at the time.
After the documentary was aired in May, Seddiqi Hamedani was detained for 21 days by Asayish, the intelligence and security agency of the Kurdistan regional government. She was subjected to torture, including beatings, electric shocks and prolonged solitary confinement, Amnesty International reported.
Iranian authorities plan to use facial recognition to enforce new hijab law
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Before she attempted to cross the border between Iran and Turkey, Seddiqi Hamedani sent a video message to 6Rang, an Iranian lesbian network based in Germany, to be published in case of her arrest.
“I may be arrested at any moment because they have all the information about me … my life is in real danger,” said a visibly distressed Seddiqi Hamedani. “If I don’t arrive [in Turkey], it is clear what happened.
“I want to inform you how much we are suffering as the LGBTQ community and we resist … whether in death or freedom, we remain true to ourselves.”
Shadi Amin, from 6Rang, said: “They [Seddiqi Hamedan and Choubdar] heard the sentence last week. Since then Zahra has not slept. She is angry.”
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It has been more than five years since President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama departed 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
On Wednesday though, they returned, as President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, revived the beloved Washington tradition of the unveiling of official White House portraits that has for decades managed to transcend partisan politics — after an awkward and anomalous gap in the Trump years.
The day marks the first return visit to the White House for Ms Obama since leaving in 2017, but the second by Mr Obama, who earlier this year attended a ceremony to mark 12 years of Obamacare.
In remarks before the unveiling, Mr Biden offered high praise to the man who occupied the Oval Office when he was vice president. Mr Obama reciprocated and also lightened the mood with jokes and “spicy” comments (as described by Mrs Obama to more laughter).
The former first lady appeared to have a thinly-veiled dig at former President Donald Trump, noting the importance of tradition in a democracy and citing the importance of a peaceful transfer of power: “Once our time is up, we move on.”
In 2012 the Obamas hosted George W Bush and Laura Bush for the unveiling of their portraits.
“Without international support, we have no hope,” Amin added.
Soma Rostami, from Hengaw, said that Seddiqi Hamedani and Choubdar had been denied access to a lawyer. Rostami added that Seddiqi Hamedani’s Kurdish ethnicity might have contributed to the harsh sentence she received.
In July, a state news agency published a video of two people who alleged that Seddiqi Hamedani trafficked Iranian women abroad. 6Rang say that the individuals in the video were detainees who gave testimony under duress.
A Ukrainian official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter, said one of Ukraine’s special services was involved in the attempt on Bardin’s life, though he couldn’t specify which agency.
“In my understanding, everything that is done to destroy the leaders of the invaders and traitors is done by our special services,” the official said. “You can say that three organizations are involved in this kind of business: special operations forces, the main intelligence department [of the military] and a special unit of the SBU,” Ukraine’s main internal security service.
Russian officials have also blamed Ukrainian special services for the car bombing that killed Daria Dugina, a right-wing, nationalist Russian TV commentator and the daughter of far-right Orthodox Christian ideologue Alexander Dugin, a strong supporter of the war. Ukraine has flatly denied involvement in her killing near Moscow.
The assassination campaign, while cheered by many Ukrainians, nonetheless raises legal and ethical questions about extrajudicial killings and potential war crimes, particularly when the targets are political actors or civilians and not combatants on the battlefield or other military personnel. And those questions cannot simply be waved away by pointing to the illegality of Russia’s invasion.
The Geneva Conventions, referring to “persons taking no active part in the hostilities,” specifically prohibit “violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds,” as well as “the passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court.”
Mykhailo Podolyak, a top adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, told The Washington Post that the attacks in the occupied territories were evidence of a “powerful partisan and active protest movement” that shows “Moscow is absolutely incapable of controlling” the areas and that “no one here was waiting … with flowers in their hands” to greet the Russian forces.
As a result, Podolyak said, “all scenarios concocted in the Kremlin, including fictitious referendums, remain only on paper.” He said that Moscow was finding it difficult to recruit from the local population for the pro-Russian administrations, and that Russian officials were refusing to travel to Ukraine because of the risk they would end up on a target list.
“The risks and consequences are extreme — and they understand this very well,” Podolyak said.
But despite Trump’s many declarations of support for combat veterans, he remains someone who ducked the draft during the Vietnam War by claiming he suffered from bone spurs. And to him, Kolfage was just some sucker who volunteered to place himself in harm’s way.
Without a pardon, Kolfage continued to face wire fraud and tax evasion charges for his part in a crowd-funded effort with the purported aim of building a wall on our border with Mexico. He was facing a maximum of 20 years in prison when he decided to cut a deal.
In a virtual appearance in Manhattan Federal Court on April 21, Kolfage entered a guilty plea with the assurance he would receive no more than 63 months in prison. Judge Analisa Torres followed the standard protocol of inquiring if the defendant was of a sound mind and not under the influence of any drugs. Kolfage said he had been taking prescribed medications.
“It’s a narcotic for nerve pain related to my amputations of my legs,” he said. “It’s related to my combat disability.”
But Kolfage assured the court that his thoughts were clear. He proceeded with a prepared statement which described using a GoFundMe campaign called “We Build the Wall” to raise $25 million and then loot it using a shell company and fake invoices.
Energy markets remain elevated as most of Europe strives to break away from Russia’s crude oil and natural gas supplies. Putin recently replaced his long-time ally, defense minister Sergei Shoigu, over frustration with the progress in his war with Ukraine. Furthermore, six of Putin’s allies have been shot or blown up, so Putin’s inner circle is becoming increasingly isolated, since Moscow is no longer safe.
Whether or not these assassinations originate from within Russia or from Ukrainian special forces, as the Russia media has claimed, is uncertain. As a result, there is a growing possibility that there could be a regime change in Russia that could disrupt the crude oil and natural gas markets.
In the event that there is a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, post-Putin, the stock market could explode 40% to the upside. However, as long as Putin remains in power, the Ukrainian war is expected to persist in a long, drawn-out conflict and Putin will continue to use energy as a weapon to punish the West.
Russia shut down its Nord Stream 1 natural gas pipeline last Wednesday for “maintenance” and will thereby provide Europe with a preview of how it must learn to cope without any new Russian natural gas coming in. Then, on Friday, Russia decided to indefinitely suspend natural gas to Europe after the G7 foolishly decided to push for price caps on Russian crude oil. Some European officials are saying that they have secured enough natural gas to avoid rationing this winter, but that depends on how cold this winter will be, and they are still struggling to replace Russian natural gas supplies for 2023 and beyond, despite LNG imports from Canada, Qatar and the U.S. Europe’s other alternatives include a new natural gas terminal in Estonia from Norway and the extension of a natural gas pipeline from Spain.
Regardless of where Europe gets its natural gas in the future, the net result will be much higher utility bills. Since Europe has an elderly population, these high utility bills are causing massive social problems as a growing number of retired folks and poor families cannot pay their utility bills. The European Union (EU) on Monday said that it is preparing to intervene to help families dampen soaring electricity costs, as the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, is expected to provide details on how the EU will intervene to help consumers with high natural gas and electricity costs. Specifically, the EU is expected to impose price caps, like Spain is utilizing. The only problem with price caps is that they could cause shortages in the future, so Europe’s power crisis is expected to persist for the foreseeable future.
The Labor Day Employment Report Offered a “Mixed Review” of the U.S. Jobs Market
Going into the Labor Day weekend, the Labor Department on Friday announced that 315,000 payroll jobs were created in August, but the big surprise was that June and July payrolls were revised down by a cumulative 107,000 jobs, so the unemployment rate rose to 3.7%, up from 3.5% in July. The other reason the unemployment rate rose was that the number of workers looking for a job rose by 786,000 in August. That pushed the Labor Force Participation Rate up to 62.4% in August from 62.1% in July. Average hourly earnings rose 0.3% ($0.10) to $32.36 per hour in August. Wages have risen 5.2% in the past year.
Manchar Lake, in Sindh province, is dangerously full after record monsoons that inundated a third of Pakistan.
Its banks were deliberately breached to protect surrounding areas and more than 100,000 people have been displaced.
Officials are racing against time to rescue and evacuate thousands of villagers who are still stranded.
"We see the water is now starting to come down," provincial minister Jam Khan Shoro told the BBC. "If we didn't make the breaches, several towns with big populations would have been destroyed and many more people in danger."
Floods in Pakistan have affected some 33 million people and caused at least 1,343 deaths, Pakistan's National Disaster Management Agency said.
That was the warning from the villagers of Sehta Sehanj, where flooding caused by the overflow of Pakistan's largest lake has left many residents trapped by rising water levels and fearing for their lives.
Lake Manchar -- which has swelled to an area hundreds of square kilometers wide due to the combined effects of a heavy monsoon and melting glaciers -- breached its banks for what was at least the third time on Tuesday, leaving nearby villages under several feet of water.
He is one of a growing number of Ukrainians exploring the possibility of reparations for damage or violence that has occurred during the war as they attempt to rebuild their lives, according to the ICC.
The conflict, which six months in is locked in a stalemate, has caused thousands of deaths, made millions of people refugees and destroyed whole cities. Kyiv has said more than 140,000 residential buildings have been damaged or destroyed and economists have estimated the cost of damage to housing and infrastructure is more than $100 billion.
Pakistani authorities are in a desperate race against time to lower water levels at the lake in Sindh -- the country's second most populous province, home to nearly 48 million people --fearing that a full-scale breach of its banks could inundate nearby cities.
Noor Mohammad Thebo said parts of his village have been cut off by the water from Lake Manchar.
In a bid to avert that scenario, they allowed the lake to overflow twice on Sunday in an attempt to divert some of the lake's waters into less densely populated areas. But this has led to flooding in smaller villages that has affected around 135,000 people, Sindh province's irrigation minister Jam Khan Shoro told CNN on Wednesday. Shoro said the move was necessary to avoid wider flooding in the district of Dadu, home to around 1.55 million people.
The lake also overflowed on Tuesday, in what officials said was a natural occurrence and not part of efforts to divert the water.
Shorosaid officials had on Sunday had tried to warn people in towns near the lake that it would overflow and had urged people to leave the area.
Over the years multiple finance researchers. have found evidence that stock market returns have been consistently lower during the summer months. These culminated in a paper published a decade ago, and updated more recently, by finance professors Cherry Zhang and Ben Jacobsen at Massey University in New Zealand. They looked at the monthly returns of every stock market in the world for which they could find records: A total of 114 of them, including data from London starting in 1693. “To answer the sceptics,” they wrote, “we use all historical data…on all stock market indices worldwide to verify the robustness of the so-called Halloween Indicator or Sell in May effect. The effect seems remarkably robust with returns on average 4% higher during November-April period than during May-October.”
In detail they report: “Summer risk premiums are not only not significantly positive, they are in most cases not even marginally positive. In 45 countries the excess returns during summer have been negative, and in 7 significantly so. Overall based on 37,167 observations we find that average stock market returns (including dividends) during May to October have been 1.1% (or 0.18% per month) lower than the short term interest rate and these negative excess returns tend to be significantly different from zero. Only in the winter months do we find evidence of a positive risk return relation. Average excess returns from November to April are 5.1% or (0.85% per month).”
Here in America, the sell-in-May rule is usually called the Halloween Effect: The general assumption is that you won’t get back into the stock market until the end of October. In Britain, where the adage supposedly began, it’s slightly different: The saying goes, “Sell in May and go away, and don’t come back till St Leger’s Day.” The St Leger’s Day in question is the day of the St Leger’s Cup, the last of the five big races of the British summer horse-racing calendar, and a social bookend for the summer season. This year the St Leger is being run this Saturday, Sept. 10.
The summer months, as the research shows, have tended to produce lower or even negative average returns. But as I mentioned earlier, they have also tended to be volatile: meaning, at best, that they have often produced some terrific buying opportunities. I ran the numbers on the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -0.55% going all the way back to 1900. The average price gain for the six months following May 1 was 2.8%–way below the 4% average price gain for any six months. Furthermore, in half of all years the Dow fell by at least 5% at some point during the summer: Someone who sold at the start of May had the chance to buy it back 5% cheaper over the summer. And in one year in three the market fell by at least 10%.
Clean Energy supplied fuel for the first bunkering with liquified natural gas (LNG) of Pasha Hawaii’s new container ship MV George III. (Photo: Business Wire)
Pasha Hawaii’s MV George III, a 774-foot container ship operating between Long Beach, CA, Honolulu, HI, and Oakland, CA, is the first of three LNG-powered ships that the domestic shipping company is putting into service. The three ships are expected to consume 105 million gallons of LNG fuel over the next five years.
"The air quality around the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles is some of the worst in the country because of in large part the very dirty marine fuels that have been traditionally used by container ships," said Andrew J. Littlefair, president and CEO, Clean Energy. "The move by Pasha to add ships that operate on clean-burning LNG is one the most forward-thinking and environmentally-progressive actions taken in the maritime industry. We congratulate Pasha on their first successful bunkering operation and look forward to many more as Pasha continues to add the other LNG-powered ships to their fleet."
LNG-powered ships achieve 99.9 percent reduction in diesel particulate matter and sulfur oxide emissions, 90 percent less nitrogen oxides and a 25 percent reduction in carbon dioxide compared to ships running on traditional fuels.
The LNG that powers the Pasha Hawaii container ships is supplied by the Clean Energy plant in Boron, CA, the only one of its kind in the state. Because of the increase in demand for LNG by Pasha and others, Clean Energy is in the process of expanding its Boron LNG plant by adding a third production train, which will increase capacity by 50 percent when completed.
Days after a high school football player in Washington state was reported missing under suspicious circumstances, he was found safe and accused of murder in the killing of his mother’s former partner, court documents filed Tuesday show.
The 16-year-old was charged with first-degree murder and other crimes in the killing of a man, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in Pierce County Superior Court.
His friend, a minor, was also charged with murder in the killing, according to the documents. It is unclear whether they have entered a plea.
NBC News does not usually identify minors who have been charged with a crime.
The teenager was reported missing to authorities in nearby Thurston County on Aug. 31, the affidavit says. The sheriff’s office there said he left his home at 4 p.m. for football practice, but never arrived.
His damaged truck was found on the side of a road roughly 13 miles south, with blood on the steering wheel and driver's side door, according to the affidavit. His cell phone was found smashed on the pavement.
The Thurston County Sheriff's Office described his disappearance as "suspicious," and asked the public for help finding him.
Authorities dispatched bloodhounds and investigators to search a state park where he was reportedly last seen, and officials told reporters that they would "explore every tip and avenue" to bring the teen home safely.
On Sept. 1, 36 hours after the teenager was reported missing, he was found, according to the affidavit. He was 3 miles from his truck and wearing only a pair of shorts.
He initially told investigators that he had no idea where he had been, though he later claimed that people were going to hurt him if he revealed what had happened, the affidavit says.
On the same day the teenager was found, Pierce County sheriff's deputies responding to a call for a welfare check found the decaying body of a man at his home. A medical examiner later concluded that he appeared to have been shot in the head and stabbed multiple times, according to the affidavit.
- A landslide triggered by heavy rain in a remote part of southwestern Uganda has killed at least 15 people, according to the Uganda Red Cross.
The group reported Wednesday that most of the victims are “mothers and children,” calling the landslide in the hilly district of Kasese a disaster.
Kasese, which lies near the border with Congo, is prone to deadly mudslides during rainy seasons.
Ugandan police and other authorities didn’t immediately comment.
But for many Ukrainians like Zhyvotovskyi, currently the chances of obtaining compensation from Russia or international tribunals or domestic programs are small, three reparations specialists told Reuters. And, even if the victims do receive reparations, they might only get a modest sum many years from now, they added.
International criminal tribunals can be a route for reparations but the ICC deals with individual perpetrators who can be held liable for damages, rather than states. And, the ICC determines reparations only at the end of what are typically lengthy court cases and they can have a more symbolic value that is unlikely to cover actual costs, some of the specialists said.
Putin told an annual economic forum in the far-eastern port city of Vladivostok that the main goal behind sending troops into Ukraine was protecting civilians in the east of that country after eight years of fighting.
“It wasn’t us who started the military action — we are trying to put an end to it,” Putin said, reaffirming his argument that he sent troops to protect Moscow-backed regions in eastern Ukraine, where separatists have fought Ukrainian forces since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.
“All our action has been aimed at helping people living in the Donbas. It’s our duty, and we will fulfill it until the end,” he said.
Putin asserted that Russia had strengthened its sovereignty in the face of Western sanctions, which he said bordered on an aggression.
“Russia has resisted the economic, financial and technological aggression of the West,” Putin said. “I’m sure that we haven’t lost anything and we won’t lose anything. The most important gain is the strengthening of our sovereignty. It’s an inevitable result of what’s going on.”
Reparations can also be organized at the national level and Ukraine has pledged to set up a reparations structure with international partners but it’s unclear who would be eligible or how it would be funded. Kyiv has said it hopes Russian assets in other countries could be confiscated and used as compensation, an idea Moscow has rejected as illegal.
The Kremlin didn’t respond to a request for comment. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said any attempt to use frozen Russian state assets to rebuild Ukraine would constitute “outright theft.” Moscow has rejected allegations by Ukraine and Western nations of war crimes and has denied targeting civilians in what the Kremlin calls a "special military operation" to demilitarise its neighbour.
Zhyvotovskyi’s lawyer, Yuriy Bilous, said he is hopeful his client will get some financial help to rebuild his house and that a successful war crimes prosecution would provide some psychological relief in terms of seeing justice done.
"We are trying our best to provide relief to the people but the scale of the disaster is so high and the number of people affected is also so high," he said. "It's nearly impossible for our government to provide everyone with shelter, food, and medicine. It's difficult."
Shoro added that the army and navy were being enlisted to help the relief efforts and authorities were communicating with elected officials in the villages.
Murad Ali Shah, the chief minister of Sindh, said Wednesday he did not want the lake to overflow but if authorities had not diverted the water, cities up to 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the lake -- such as Sehwan, Dadu and Mehar -- would have been put in danger.
While those areas have been spared, at least for now, villages nearby are bearing the brunt.
"(Our) village is submerged. There is no way to go (to it)," said Noor Mohammad Thebo, who spoke to CNN on a roadside as rapidly flowing water swirled around his ankles.
Thebo said 10 to 15 families had been cut off by the rising waters in his village near the lake and that water up to 1.5 meters (five feet) deep now covered its main access road -- making any rescue efforts a dangerous affair.
"There are no rescue teams that could help (the trapped families) and there is no way for (the families) to come out," Thebo said.
