KYIV: Ukrainian attacks on southern Russia’s Belgorod region killed six people on Friday, officials said.
Russia’s Emergencies Ministry said four bodies had been pulled from the rubble of a multi-floor apartment building hit by Ukrainian shelling in the border town of Shebekino.
A ministry statement posted after midnight said 50 percent of the rubble from the site had been cleared. Pictures on the ministry’s Telegram channel showed a crane clearing debris and the building’s facade shattered, with one stairwell collapsed.
Regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said a Ukrainian drone had struck a car in a village near Shebekino, killing the driver. He said a woman was killed in her home when it was struck by rocket fire in the village of Oktyabrsky, further west.
Ukraine has staged frequent attacks on Belgorod and other Russian border regions in recent months.
President Vladimir Putin cited attacks on Belgorod as grounds for a cross-border incursion last month into Ukraine’s Kharkiv region.
The Russian military said its troops seized about a dozen settlements, while Ukrainian officials say the advance has been contained.
On the Ukrainian side of the border, military officials in Sumy region said a Russian air strike on Friday killed one person in the town of Shostka, about 45 km (28 miles) inside Ukrainian territory.
Towns and villages in Sumy region, west of Belgorod, are subject to daily Russian attacks.
Ukrainian attacks kill six in Russia’s Belgorod region, officials say
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Ukrainian attacks kill six in Russia’s Belgorod region, officials say
- On the Ukrainian side of the border, military officials in Sumy region said a Russian air strike on Friday killed one person in the town of Shostka
Israeli military tightens media rules over war crimes prosecution concern
- Under the new rules, media interviewing soldiers of the rank of colonel and under will not be able to display their full names or faces, similar to the rules that already exist for pilots, an Israeli military spokesperson says
JERUSALEM: The Israeli military placed new restrictions on media coverage of soldiers on active combat duty amid growing concern at the risk of legal action against reservists traveling abroad over allegations of involvement in war crimes in Gaza.
The move came after an Israeli reservist vacationing in Brazil left the country abruptly when a Brazilian judge ordered federal police to open an investigation following allegations from a pro-Palestinian group that he had committed war crimes while serving in Gaza.
Under the new rules, media interviewing soldiers of the rank of colonel and under will not be able to display their full names or faces, similar to the rules that already exist for pilots and members of special forces units, Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an Israeli military spokesperson told reporters.
The interviewees must not be linked to a specific combat event they participated in.
“This is our new guideline to protect our soldiers and to make sure they are safe from these types of incident hosted by anti-Israel activists around the world,” Shoshani said.
He said that under existing military rules, soldiers were already not supposed to post videos and other images from war zones on social media “even though that’s never perfect and we have a large army.” There were also long-standing rules and guidelines for soldiers traveling abroad, he said.
Shoshani said activist groups, such as the Belgium-based Hind Rajab Foundation, which pushed for the action in Brazil, were “connecting the dots” between soldiers who posted material from Gaza and then posted other photos and videos of themselves while on holiday abroad.
Last year, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as a Hamas leader, Ibrahim Al-Masri, over alleged war crimes in Gaza, drawing outrage in Israel.
Shoshani said there had been “a handful” of cases where reservists traveling abroad had been targeted, in addition to the case in Brazil, all of which had been started by activist groups pushing authorities for an investigation.
“They didn’t open an investigation, they didn’t press charges or anything like that,” he said.
NATO membership only credible security guarantee for Ukraine, Finnish foreign minister says
- Ukrainian officials including President Volodymyr Zelensky have called for strong security guarantees from partners that would prevent Russia from rearming for a new attack
KYIV: Membership in NATO is the only credible long-term security guarantee Ukraine can receive against future Russian aggression, Finland’s top diplomat said on Wednesday.
Donald Trump’s return to the White House on Jan. 20 has sparked hope of a diplomatic resolution to end Moscow’s invasion but also fears in Kyiv that a quick peace could come at a high price.
Ukrainian officials including President Volodymyr Zelensky have called for strong security guarantees from partners that would prevent Russia from rearming for a new attack.
“I think in the long term the only credible security guarantee is Article 5 of the Washington Treaty — so NATO membership essentially,” Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen told Reuters in Kyiv, referring to the alliance’s collective defense clause.
“And we are supporting Ukraine’s NATO membership further down the line and hopefully not in (the) too-distant future.”
Ukraine’s leaders have aggressively pushed for an invitation to join the 32-member alliance but have met resistance from key members as the war lurches toward its three-year mark and Ukrainian troops struggle to beat back Russian advances.
Trump, who has criticized US aid to Ukraine, said on Tuesday he sympathizes with Russia’s position that Ukraine should not be part of NATO. His aides and allies see Ukrainian membership as an unnecessary provocation toward Moscow.
He also blamed outgoing Democratic President Joe Biden for allegedly changing the US position on NATO membership for Ukraine.
Valtonen, who was in Kyiv days after Finland assumed the chairmanship of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, said a Trump administration would not necessarily spell the end for Ukraine’s NATO ambitions.
“Three years ago nobody thought that Finland would be joining NATO, or Sweden for that matter,” she said. “So here we are, you never know.”
Finland, which shares a 830-mile (1,336 km) border with Russia, joined the alliance in 2023 after the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of its smaller neighbor. Sweden joined earlier this year.
‘SAME PAGE’
Trump, who has long been critical of NATO, also called on Tuesday for European members to boost spending on alliance defense from 2 percent of their gross domestic product to 5 percent.
Valtonen, who described Finland as “very much carrying its own weight so far,” said such rhetoric could help spur European efforts to strengthen collective defense.
“We are very much on the same page with Trump on that, because I think we should do more, we can do more,” she said.
“Certainly Europe has improved massively over the course of the past years, and will continue doing so.”
President-elect Donald Trump visits Jimmy Carter’s casket in Capitol Rotunda after criticizing him
- “I liked him as a man. I disagreed with his policies. He thought giving away the Panama Canal was a good thing,” Trump said on Tuesday
- House Speaker Mike Johnson eulogized: "In the face of conflict, he brokered peace. In the face of discrimination, he reminded us that we are all made in the image of God."
WASHINGTON: President-elect Donald Trump, who has alternated among praising, criticizing and even mocking Jimmy Carter, came Wednesday to the Capitol Rotunda to pay his respects as the 39th president lay in state ahead of his funeral Thursday in the nation’s capital.
Carter was often the target of Trump’s derision during his 2024 campaign, and the president-elect has renewed his critique of the Georgia Democrat this week amid his state funeral rites for ceding control of the Panama Canal to its home country when he was president more than four decades ago.
Trump, who plans to attend Carter’s funeral Thursday at Washington National Cathedral, played it straight on Capitol Hill, walking somberly into the rotunda with his wife, Melania, and pausing in front of Carter’s flag-draped casket, which is resting atop the Lincoln catafalque and stands surrounded by a military honor guard.
But on the campaign trail, Trump lampooned President Joe Biden and Carter together, playing up Republican caricatures of Carter as an incompetent steward of an inflationary economy and directing the same indictment at Biden’s administration.
“Jimmy Carter is happy because he had a brilliant presidency compared to Biden,” Trump would say, even using some version of the attack when former first lady Rosalynn Carter was on her deathbed in 2023 and on Carter’s 100th birthday on Oct. 1, 2024. On Tuesday, the day Carter’s remains arrived in Washington, Trump added of Carter, “I liked him as a man. I disagreed with his policies. He thought giving away the Panama Canal was a good thing.”
Members of Congress, Hill staffers and former Speaker Kevin McCarthy were among the steady stream of mourners in addition to the Trumps. Lynda Robb and Luci Baines Johnson, the daughters of President Lyndon Johnson, paid their respects, as well. Luci Baines Johnson blew a kiss toward the casket as she walked away.
Carter, the longest-lived US president, died Dec. 29 at the age of 100.
A US Naval Academy graduate, submarine officer and peanut farmer before entering politics, Carter won the White House in 1976 as an outsider in the wake of the Vietnam War and Watergate. He endured a rocky four years of economic unrest and international crises that ended with his defeat to Republican Ronald Reagan. But he also lived long enough to see historians reassess his presidency more charitably than voters did in 1980, and the national rites of a state funeral afford him a notable counter to the often testy relationship he had with Washington during his four years in the Oval Office.
“President Carter was the governor of the great state of Georgia when I was born,” said Lyn Leverett, among the people who waited in below-freezing weather Wednesday. “So he’s been around my, you know, my whole entire being. And I just want to pay my respects to a decent person.”
Some visitors fondly recalled personal connections to Carter’s 1976 campaign, when his family, close friends and other supporters from Georgia formed the “Peanut Brigade” to fan out across Iowa, New Hampshire and other key primary states and help Carter surprise the Washington establishment by winning the Democratic nomination.
“I’m originally from Nashua, New Hampshire, and when I was a child, Jimmy Carter slept at my house,” said Susan Prolman. “He had just won the Iowa caucuses and he was in New Hampshire campaigning for the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire presidential primary. And I created this little poster for him, and he very kindly signed it.”
Margaret Fitzpatrick, of Kensington, Maryland, recalled a family friend who had attended the Naval Academy with Carter in the 1940s and later hosted him as a presidential candidate. But she and others said what most drew them to the Capitol was what they remember of Carter once he left office — and the distinctions they see between Carter and Trump.
“The contrast is amazing,” Fitzpatrick said, as she noted the juxtaposition of Carter’s funeral with the obvious preparations around Washington for Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration. “I’m here to respect somebody who has built a reputation on honesty, character and integrity. President Carter was a decent, kind, genuine and gentle person.”
Kim James, also a Maryland resident, said she had yet to start grade school when Carter was elected and thinks of him more as the white-haired former president who fought disease and advocated for democracy in the developing world and built homes for Habitat for Humanity in the US and abroad.
“He cared about other people,” she said, adding that political leaders today should work harder to replicate that example. “That selflessness — it always stood out.”
Official ceremonies this week also have remembered Carter’s religious convictions, long public service and decades of humanitarian work beyond what he accomplished in politics. Vice President Kamala Harris, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune eulogized Carter a day earlier at the Capitol, when his remains first arrived in the rotunda.
Said Johnson in his tribute: “In the face of illness, President Jimmy Carter brought lifesaving medicine. In the face of conflict, he brokered peace. In the face of discrimination, he reminded us that we are all made in the image of God. And if you were to ask him why he did it all, he would likely point to his faith.”
Carter will remain at the Capitol until Thursday morning, when he is transported to Washington National Cathedral for a state funeral. President Joe Biden, a longtime Carter ally, will deliver a eulogy. Other living former presidents, including Trump, are expected to attend.
After the funeral, the Boeing 747 that is Air Force One when a sitting president is aboard will carry Carter and his family back to Georgia. An invitation-only funeral will be held at Maranatha Baptist Church in tiny Plains, Georgia, where Carter taught Sunday School for decades after leaving office.
Carter will be buried next to his wife, former first lady Rosalynn Carter, in a plot near the home they built before his first state Senate campaign in 1962 and where they lived out their lives with the exception of four years in the Georgia Governor’s Mansion and four years in the White House.
Barcelona defeat Bilbao without Olmo to reach Spanish Super Cup final
- Gavi put Barcelona ahead from close range after 17 minutes and teenage winger Yamal netted the second early after the break
JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia: Young starlets Gavi and Lamine Yamal fired Barcelona, without Dani Olmo after his license to play was revoked, into the Spanish Super Cup final with a 2-0 win against Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday.
Spanish playmaker Olmo was cleared to play again on a temporary basis before the game but the decision came too late for him or Pau Victor, in the same position, to feature against Copa del Rey winners Athletic.
Gavi put Barcelona ahead from close range after 17 minutes and teenage winger Yamal netted the second early after the break.
Spanish and European champions Real Madrid face cup runners-up Mallorca on Thursday in the second semifinal in Saudi Arabia, where the competition has been held for the past few years.
“Athletic are a very physical team that make you run a lot, we suffered above all toward the end, but we were able to play well and we’re very happy,” Yamal told Movistar.
The winger said Olmo and Victor were pleased to be allowed to play once more.
“In the end you’re nervous when you can’t play and when you get news like that, you’re very happy,” added Yamal.
Barca coach Hansi Flick hailed the decision from Spain’s national sports council regarding Olmo and Victor.
“The whole club is very happy for this right decision,” said Flick, hoping to win his first silverware at the helm of Barca.
“We wanted to show we are a team and we win also for them.”
Barcelona, who qualified as La Liga runners-up, started brightly and Raphinha volleyed over from a fine Jules Kounde cross and forced Unai Simon into a good save with a free-kick.
It was no surprise when the Catalans broke the deadlock with Alejandro Balde cutting the ball back for Gavi, playing in Olmo’s attacking midfield role, to turn home for his first goal since suffering a severe knee injury last season.
The 20-year-old pointed at an imaginary watch in his celebration, a nod to Olmo who regularly produces the same gesture after scoring.
At the other end Inaki Williams dallied on the ball too long as Athletic’s best attacking move of the first half broke down.
Yamal, returning after an ankle problem, should have added Barcelona’s second after Raphinha’s shot was saved but the 17-year-old miscued an attempted lob.
Wojciech Szczesny, on his second start in goal for Barcelona, made a good save to keep Inaki Williams at bay before the break.
Barcelona doubled their lead early in the second half when Gavi slipped in Yamal who finished with aplomb.
Veteran Polish forward Robert Lewandowski spurned a fine chance to add the third, firing off-target when well placed.
Athletic coach Ernesto Valverde, who was sacked as Barcelona boss after a defeat at the same stadium in 2020, brought on Nico Williams to try and turn the game around.
The Spain international, heavily linked with Barcelona in the summer, was not fit enough to start, but made a positive impact from the bench.
The winger set up Oscar de Marcos to strike but the Athletic defender had strayed just offside and the goal was ruled out.
Inaki Williams also had a goal ruled out for offside after Frenkie De Jong’s poor back-pass took a slight deflection off Alvaro Djalo on its way to the Ghana international.
“It’s a shame given all the effort... but we have good things ahead of us and we have to continue,” said Inaki Williams.
Barcelona were able to book their place in Sunday’s final, in which Olmo will be allowed to feature.
“We don’t care (who we face in the final), it will be hard and we want to win it, which is the important thing, and go back home with the trophy,” said Yamal.
Tottenham beats Liverpool 1-0 in English cup semis after a serious injury and in-stadium ref call
- Liverpool, the defending League Cup champion, saw its 24-match unbeaten run in all competitions come to an end
Lucas Bergvall’s first goal for Tottenham secured a 1-0 win over Liverpool in the English League Cup semifinals on Wednesday in a first-leg match notable for a serious-looking injury to Rodrigo Bentancur and the first in-stadium announcement by a referee in the English game.
The 18-year-old Bergvall slotted home the winner in the 86th minute following a pass from Dominic Solanke, who thought 10 minutes earlier that he had given Tottenham the lead. That goal was ruled out after a VAR check for offside and referee Stuart Attwell communicated the decision via a wireless microphone to spectators inside Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and to TV viewers.
In the sixth minute, Bentancur — the Uruguay midfielder who plays for Tottenham — fell to the ground and lay prone after landing awkwardly when attempting a header from a corner. He was carried off on a stretcher, to applause from around the ground, after receiving treatment during a 10-minute delay.
The second leg is at Anfield on Feb. 6.
Newcastle leads Arsenal 2-0 after the first leg of the other semifinal match.
Liverpool, the defending League Cup champion, saw its 24-match unbeaten run in all competitions come to an end and there was a hint of controversy about only the team’s second loss of the season.
Visiting players and manager Arne Slot were unhappy that Bergvall was on the field to score what proved to be the winning goal after he escaped collecting a second yellow card for a foul on Kostas Tsimikas moments earlier. Indeed, Tsimikas was off the field, waiting to come back on having received treatment following Bergvall’s tackle, when the Sweden midfielder tucked home his finish.
Slot earned a yellow card himself for his protests, though he shook Attwell’s hand after the final whistle.
“It was quite obvious it was going to be a second yellow,” Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk said. “A minute later he scores the winner.
“He (Attwell) made a mistake, in my opinion.”
It was a busy end to the match for Attwell, who took center stage after there was a video review following Solanke’s strike in the 76th minute. After being notified that Solanke was offside, Attwell used the public address system to declare the goal had been ruled out, in an NFL-style announcement.
The League Cup semifinals were chosen to pilot a process in England that has been widely used in other sports, and in soccer at the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand in 2023 and other FIFA events.
