officials

Russia launched a massive overnight air assault on Ukraine’s energy network, striking electricity generation and distribution facilities with more than 400 drones and about 40 missiles, Ukrainian officials said Thursday. President Volodymyr Zelensky said the barrage targeted the grid, generation sites and distribution substations across the country, as winter temperatures begin to plunge. “Every day, Russia could choose real diplomacy, but it chooses new strikes,” he posted on X. Moscow did not immediately comment on the…

Russian Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alekseyev shot and wounded in Moscow apartment building, investigators say A senior Russian general was shot and injured inside a Moscow apartment building, officials said, in the latest apparent assassination attempt targeting the country’s military leadership. Russia’s Investigative Committee said in a statement that “an unidentified individual fired several shots” at Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alekseyev before fleeing the scene. “The victim has been hospitalised,” the agency added, without providing…

MOSCOW — A senior Russian general was shot in a Moscow apartment building and rushed to a hospital this morning, officials said, in the latest apparent assassination attempt targeting a top military figure. Russia’s Investigative Committee said in a statement that “an unidentified individual fired several shots” at Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alekseyev before fleeing the scene. “The victim has been hospitalised,” the agency said, without providing details on his condition or the suspected assailant. “Investigative actions and…

WASHINGTON — Ireland’s foreign minister defended the European Union’s Digital Services Act during a visit to the U.S. capital, arguing the online safety law protects consumers and children without undermining free speech, even as a House Judiciary Committee hearing questioned whether the framework infringes on Americans’ First Amendment rights. Helen McEntee, Ireland’s minister for foreign affairs, trade and defense, met U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in Washington as part of advance preparations for Ireland…

Trump says U.S. in talks with Havana after threatening tariffs on oil shipments to Cuba WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said Washington is negotiating with Cuba’s leadership to reach a deal, days after threatening to choke off the island’s fuel supply by imposing tariffs on countries that sell oil to Havana. The push-and-pull approach comes as the second Trump administration escalates pressure on the communist-run island following the U.S. ouster of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro last month. Venezuela, a longtime ally,…

ROME — Six members of Italy’s police and coastguard went on trial Tuesday over the 2023 shipwreck off the Calabrian coast that killed at least 94 migrants, including 35 children, in one of the country’s deadliest maritime disasters in a decade. The case, heard in the southern city of Crotone, centers on allegations that authorities failed to mount a timely search-and-rescue operation for a wooden boat that had sailed from Turkey carrying people from Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and Syria. Around 80 survived when the vessel…

Russian strikes near Ukraine’s capital killed two people and wounded several others on Monday, regional authorities said, as a fresh wave of attacks overnight left at least a dozen people dead across the country and knocked out power in freezing temperatures. In a post on Telegram, Mykola Kalashnyk, head of the Kyiv region’s military administration, said a man and a woman were killed in the Bilogorodska community west of the capital. Four other people sought medical assistance following the strike, he added. The regional…

Israel’s military said it has retrieved the remains of Israeli police officer Ran Gvili, the last hostage held in Gaza, a development officials said fulfills a key condition in the initial phase of a U.S.-brokered plan to end the Gaza war. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel had “brought them all back,” after months of operations and negotiations to secure the release or recovery of the 251 people abducted during Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 assault. Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said the return of the final Israeli hostage…

Videos contradict federal account in fatal Minneapolis shooting of Alex Pretti; judge orders evidence preserved MINNEAPOLIS — Senior Trump administration officials on Sunday defended the fatal shooting of U.S. citizen Alex Pretti by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis, even as bystander videos reviewed by Reuters appeared to undercut their account and deepen tensions with local authorities. Pretti, 37, an ICU nurse who had a license to carry a firearm, was shot and killed Saturday during a federal operation that drew…

Minneapolis — At least four students, including a 5-year-old boy, were detained by U.S. immigration officers in a Minneapolis suburb this week, deepening tensions over a federal crackdown that has flooded the area with agents and sparked a legal challenge from the state. The 5-year-old, identified by school officials as Liam Conejo Ramos, and his father were taken to a family detention facility in Dilley, Texas, according to attorney Marc Prokosch, who said the pair are asylum applicants and is seeking their release. The…