Inside Russia’s plot to plunge Ukraine into darkness, and how Ukrainians have survived
February 24, 2023
Yana and Serhii Lysenko were fast asleep, their four-year-old daughter in her bedroom down the hall, when they awoke at sunrise to a noise they didn’t recognize — the ominous buzz of an engine, like a motorcycle or lawnmower.
“I will never forget this sound,” said Yana, 31, who recalls leaping out of bed and rushing to the window to look outside. “And there it was, right above us, right above our heads, flying.”
From their perch on the 23rd floor of an apartment block in central Kyiv, they could see a drone swooping across the pink dawn sky, like a kite. Then, they heard an explosion and saw a black cloud left hanging in the air. Yana said she felt paralyzed, rooted to the spot.
The weapon, later identified by authorities as an Iranian Shahed-136, known as a “kamikaze” or “suicide” drone for the way it explodes on impact, was soon followed by several more. The couple watched in horror as the menacing triangular munitions darted past, careening and dive-bombing towards a thermal power plant just over a mile from their home, which provides electricity and heat for the capital.
Tunisia forces arrest senior opposition figure as crackdown escalates
Jaouhar Ben M’barek is most prominent opposition figure to be rounded up in president’s campaign of detentions
Tunisian security forces have arrested Jaouhar Ben M’barek, the most prominent opposition figure to be rounded up in an escalating campaign of detentions targeting rivals of the president, Kais Saied.
“Jaouhar was arrested late last night and we haven’t seen the charges against him,” his sister Dalila Msaddek, a lawyer, told AFP on Friday.
Ben M’barek was the latest of a dozen prominent public figures arrested this month, mostly rivals of Saied, who froze parliament and sacked the government in a dramatic July 2021 move against the sole democracy to emerge from the Arab spring uprisings.
He left Silicon Valley to fight on the frontline in Ukraine. Now he’s advising Zelensky’s government
Exclusive: Andrey Liscovich packed up his life in Silicon Valley and returned to Ukraine at the start of the war, helping source and supply items to fighters on the frontline. One year on, he tells Rachel Sharp how he is now advising the Ukrainian government – and how his life has changed
On 24 February 2022, Andrey Liscovich was working on the launch of his latest start-up in Silicon Valley.
Today, on 24 February 2023, he is in eastern Ukraine helping advise President Volodymyr Zelensky’s government on the war efforts.
He may have no military experience. But years of working in the start-up culture of the California tech industry have given him a different set of skills.
It’s a skill set that he is now using to source crucial supplies for Ukrainian troops and distribute them to soldiers and volunteer fighters on the frontline.
Pakistani brothers freed from Guantanamo return home
Abdul and Mohammed Rabbani had spent more than two decades in detention without charges. The release means there are now 32 detainees still in Guantanamo.
US authorities have released two Pakistani brothers, Abdul and Mohammed Rabbani, from the military prison at Guantanamo Bay after over 20 years of detention.
The Rabbani brothers, who were arrested on suspicion of al-Qaida links, arrived in Pakistan on Friday, officials said.
Mushtaq Ahmed Khan, the chairman of the human rights committee in the upper house of Pakistan's parliament, said the pair had reached Islamabad airport.
The two men were "innocently imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay for 21 years. There was no trial, no court proceedings, no charges against them," Khan wrote on Twitter. "Congratulations on their release. Thank you Senate of Pakistan.
WHO concerned about bird flu after girl's father tests positive
The World Health Organization said Friday it was concerned about bird flu after the father of a 11-year-old Cambodian girl who died from the disease also tested positive, raising fears of human-to-human transmission.
Since late 2021, one of the worst global avian influenza outbreaks on record has seen tens of millions of poultry culled, mass wild bird die-offs and a rising number of infections among mammals.
In Cambodia, the girl fell ill on February 16 with a fever, cough and sore throat, and died on Wednesday from the H5N1 bird flu virus, according to the health ministry.
Authorities then collected samples from 12 people who had been in contact with her.
Ukraine war: The real reason for China's charm offensive over Ukraine and Russia
Over the past year the West has tried to cajole China to help them end the Ukraine war. Now Beijing has given its firmest response yet - and it's not something many in the West would like.
In recent days, China has launched an assertive charm offensive, kicking off with top diplomat Wang Yi's tour of Europe which culminated in a warm welcome by Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
Beijing has released not one but two position papers - the first offering the Chinese solution to the war and the other outlining a plan for world peace. These largely retread the talking points China has reiterated in the past year, calling for respect for sovereignty (for Ukraine) and the protection of national security interests (for Russia), while opposing the use of unilateral sanctions (by the US).
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