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World Monthly Headline News May 2023
Story by Bloomberg News

(Bloomberg) -- China’s Shenzhou 16 mission blasted off from deep in the Gobi Desert, showcasing the space program’s rapid progress at a time when the US is trying to thwart Beijing’s development of sophisticated industries such as semiconductors.

A Long March-2F rocket sending three astronauts to the Chinese space station took off from the military-controlled Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on Tuesday morning, state media reported.

The launch marked the 11th crewed mission for China as it narrows the gap in a head-to-head space race with the US.

A CBS News investigation has found evidence of mass murder by a Russian mercenary army that's responsible for some of the bloodiest fighting in Ukraine. Last week, CBS News reported on how the Wagner Group plunders gold and other resources in the Central African Republic to pay for its war machine. CBS News' Debora Patta spoke to eyewitnesses who describe a massacre there, and what they reveal is distressing.
Story by James Crisp

Avengeful killer whale called Gladis is leading gangs of orcas into battle with yachts around Gibraltar and has already sunk three boats in Europe.

It may read like something out of Moby Dick, but in this case the truth is stranger than Herman Melville’s fictional tale of the white whale.

Researchers believe that a female orca called White Gladis has been hell-bent on revenge after being traumatised by a collision with a boat or being trapped in illegal fishing nets.

Gladis’s attacks are now being copied by the rest of the local killer whale population, which have learnt how to ram vessels from their ringleader.
Story by IntelliNews

Anxiety is quietly mounting among Taliban-ruled Afghanistan’s Central Asian neighbours at the large-scale damage that could be wrought to farmland by the Qosh Tepa canal project that will divert waters of the Amu Darya border river.

Once fully constructed and put into operation by the Taliban to irrigate Afghanistan’s dry northern plains, the enormous canal risks destabilising relations between Kabul and downstream Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.

“The Qosh Tepa canal has already begun to cause regional tensions,” Eugene Simonov, international coordinator of the Rivers Without Boundaries environmental coalition, told The Third Pole. The publication said it found that this view was shared by multiple experts in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan that it spoke with.
Opinion by Tomiwa Owolade

I loved David Starkey’s documentaries when I was a kid. His confident erudition, his capacity to sum up a person or idea in a wonderfully pithy phrase: he made history come alive to me more than any teacher I had at school. Then something happened in the summer of 2011.

Starkey appeared on BBC’s Newsnight to discuss the riots that engulfed London that August. On it, he said that white working-class people in Britain “had become black”. By this, he meant “a particular sort of nihilistic, gangster culture has become the fashion”.

I am not shocked any more. Speaking at the National Conservatism conference in London last week, Starkey said of the Black Lives Matter movement: “They do not care about black lives, they only care about the symbolic destruction of white culture.”

What does “white culture” mean? Elsewhere in the speech, he mentioned the threat faced by western civilisation, making the same equation between race and culture as he did on Newsnight. He associates “black culture” with violence and thuggery. Western civilisation, by contrast, is an example of white culture.
Story by Sascha Pare

Orcas have attacked and sunk a third boat off the Iberian coast of Europe, and experts now believe the behavior is being copied by the rest of the population.

Three orcas (Orcinus orca), also known as killer whales, struck the yacht on the night of May 4 in the Strait of Gibraltar, off the coast of Spain, and pierced the rudder. "There were two smaller and one larger orca," skipper Werner Schaufelberger told the German publication Yacht. "The little ones shook the rudder at the back while the big one repeatedly backed up and rammed the ship with full force from the side."

Schaufelberger said he saw the smaller orcas imitate the larger one. "The two little orcas observed the bigger one's technique and, with a slight run-up, they too slammed into the boat." Spanish coast guards rescued the crew and towed the boat to Barbate, but it sank at the port entrance.
Story by lovePROPERTY team

Does Putin have a secret bunker?
Putin is renowned for extreme vigilance when it comes to his personal safety – whether that's reportedly enforcing a no-fly zone over his alleged $1.4 billion palace or conducting meetings at a super-long table in an attempt to avoid coronavirus. Now, according to an investigation carried out by Business Insider, it appears he may have gone one step further and built secret tunnels and a bunker beneath his rumored Black Sea mega-mansion. A Russian contractor, Metro Style, shared plans of the tunnels to their website in the early 2010s, but there are other clues too... Click or scroll on to find out more.
Story by Douglas Charles

The future of handheld weaponry is apparently here as China reports it has created a portable handheld electromagnetic railgun.

The railgun, which is said to be designed for riot control purposes, not killing people, “marks a development trend for future weapons,” reports Global Times.

According to a program on China Central Television (CCTV), the gun uses nine lithium-ion coils to accelerate coin-shaped projectiles, which are stored in a magazine behind the coils.

These projectiles are designed this way for use in riot control rather than causing lethal damage. They will cause less penetration damage and have a larger spread than typical firearm projectiles. They do not require the use of gunpowder, making them safer to store and transport.
Story by Kevin Schofield

Nigel Farage admitted “Brexit has failed” during a fiery clash on the BBC’s Newsnight. The former UKIP leader made the surprise comment as he was presented with the mounting evidence that quitting the European Union has damaged the British economy.

He said the Conservatives had failed to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the 2016 referendum result. Newsnight presenter Victoria Derbyshire said: “A poll from last month showed that 53% of people say it was wrong to Brexit - around one in five Leave voters regret it.

″The OBR [Office for Budget Responsibility] forecast a 4% hit to the economy over the medium-to-long-term - that’s £40bn in tax revenues. “The UK economy is the only G7 economy back to its pre-pandemic size. Business investment has lagged behind comparable economies.
Story by SUZAN FRASER and ZEYNEP BILGINSOY

Turkey’s presidential election will be decided in a runoff, election officials said Monday, after incumbent Recep Tayyip Erdogan pulled ahead of his chief challenger, but fell short of an outright victory that would extend his increasingly authoritarian rule into a third decade.

The May 28 second-round vote will determine whether the strategically located NATO country remains under the president's firm grip or can embark on a more democratic course promised by his main rival, Kemal Kilicdaroglu.

While Erdogan has governed for 20 years, opinion polls had suggested that run could be coming to an end and that a cost-of-living crisis and criticism over the government's response to a devastating February earthquake might redraw the electoral map.

Instead, Erdogan's retreat was still less marked than predicted — and with his alliance retaining its hold on the parliament, he is now in a good position to win in the second round.
Story by Альона Сонько

However, Zatulin stressed that “there is nothing supernatural there, it’s not a coronavirus” and “the person has simply fallen ill … and probably needs a rest.” Lukashenko’s office has declined to comment, saying the dictator is “doing paperwork.” The Belarusian dictator has not been seen in public for more than five days.

Earlier, it was reported that Lukashenko had visited the presidential medical clinic in the Drozdy complex near Minsk on the evening of May 13, after rumors spread that he was ill. Zerkalo (a medium set up by the former TUT.ВY news outlet team) wrote that Lukashenko has been making many fewer public appearances since May.
Story by Kristina Jovanovski

ISTANBUL—Turkey’s opposition is accusing Russia of trying to influence Sunday’s elections in order to keep President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in office as several polls suggest he is on the verge of losing power.

Although Erdogan’s ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin have long raised alarm, a sex tape scandal is shaping up to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

Muharrem İnce, a presidential candidate who led the main opposition party in 2018, left the race this week over rumors of an alleged sex tape spread online. The candidate claimed that the tape was a deepfake and said he had gone through a false character assassination.

Soon after, the presidential candidate for Turkey’s opposition, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, accused Russia of spreading deepfakes and conspiracies, including “tapes that were exposed in this country yesterday.”
By REGINA GARCIA CANO and FRANKLIN BRICENO

LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peru’s government will allow the extradition to the United States of the prime suspect in the unsolved 2005 disappearance of American student Natalee Holloway on the Dutch Caribbean Island of Aruba, bringing her family hope there will be justice in the case.

Dutch citizen Joran van der Sloot will be sent to the U.S., Peru announced Wednesday, to face trial on extortion and wire fraud charges, stemming from an accusation that he tried to extort the Holloway family after their daughter’s disappearance.

Holloway, who lived in suburban Birmingham, Alabama, was 18 when she was last seen during a trip with classmates to Aruba. She vanished after a night with friends at a nightclub, leaving a mystery that sparked years of news coverage and countless true-crime podcasts. She was last seen leaving a bar with van der Sloot, then 18 years old.

Van der Sloot was identified as a suspect and detained, along with two Surinamese brothers, weeks later. Holloway’s body was never found, and no charges were filed in the case. A judge later declared Holloway dead.
Story by Dave Malyon

Amid tighter security than usual and a lower military turnout, Vladimir Putin took to the podium and blamed the West for the war in Ukraine in his speech. Despite the significant losses and embarrassment suffered by Russia's military on the battlefield, Putin - whom the Sun reported as "Panicky" - assured the audience of an imminent victory.

He used the opportunity to accuse Western nations of forgetting their victory against Germany in the Second World War and referred to his actions against Ukraine as "sacred." In a symbolic gesture highlighting the impact of Putin's losses, a solitary relic of a World War II tank, a T34, appeared in the procession. This lone tank was followed by ten armored jeep-like vehicles.
Story by David Wetzel

Some are calling Russia President Vladimir Putin's speech during Victory Day one of the most blasphemous in world history. Putin referred to a Western enemy that he claims is conspiring against his country and is responsible for what's going on in Ukraine.

He also claimed that his so-called heroic troops are standing up against a new structure of Nazism that is erupting all over Eastern Europe. On top of that, Putin has distrust happening within his own country.
Story by The Moscow Times

Russia has seized four tugboats belonging to a subsidiary of Danish shipping giant Maersk in Russia's Far East, according to the group, which ceased operations in the country after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

"On April 25 we were informed a local court has ordered the tugboats cannot leave Russia and also transferred custody of the tugboats to a third party," Maersk said in a statement on Wednesday.

The four vessels, owned by Maersk unit Svitzer, were operating on a long-term contract for the Sakhalin-2 oil and gas project in Russia's Far East.
Story by Sébastien Roblin

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has been tough on Russia’s inventory ground attack aircraft, with photos confirming at least 60 of its Sukhoi bombers and attack jets destroyed or heavily damaged by early May 2020. And a recent incident suggests even those deployed thousands of miles away from Ukraine may still be in the line of fire.

On May 8, just prior to Russia’s Victory Day holiday, saboteurs filmed themselves setting fire to one Su-24 supersonic bomber parked near some woods by the Sukhoi aircraft factory at Novosibirsk—located 1,800 miles east of Ukraine in Siberia. The Novosibirsk Aircraft Production Association Plant there is engaged in producing the Su-24’s successor, the Su-34 Fullback bomber.
LA Times

Palestinian militants fired dozens of rockets from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel on Wednesday, in a first response to Israeli airstrikes that have killed 19 Palestinians, including three senior militants and at least 10 civilians.

The rocket fire set off air-raid sirens throughout southern Israel and as far away as the area of Tel Aviv, on the Mediterranean Sea, 50 miles away. Residents had been bracing for an attack since Israel carried out its first airstrikes early Tuesday.

It was the heaviest fighting between the sides in months, pushing the region closer toward a full-blown war. But in signs that both sides were trying to show restraint, Israel avoided attacks on the ruling Hamas militant group, targeting only the smaller Islamic Jihad faction. Hamas, meanwhile, appears to be remaining on the sidelines.

Israel and Hamas have fought four wars since the militant group took control of Gaza in 2007.

Exiled former Russian politician-turned-dissident Ilya Ponomarev claims Russian resistance fighters were behind the brazen drone attack on the Kremlin. "Russian resistance is growing," he tells Christiane Amanpour.
Story by IntelliNews
By Ben Aris in Berlin

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko appears to have been struck down by a mystery illness and was rushed back to Belarus shortly after attending the May 9 Victory Day celebrations on Red Square in Moscow.

The Belarusian strongman, who was one of the few foreign dignitaries to attend the 78 celebration of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany, skipped the traditional formal guest breakfast on the day of the parade and was rushed to the airport to fly home as soon as the parade was over.

Belarusian media also reported that Lukashenko chose not to walk with Russian President Vladimir Putin and other visiting heads of state to the flame of Unknown Soldier monument, that is just outside the Kremlin walls, the traditional last part of the May 9 celebration. Instead, he was driven to the memorial in an electric cart, despite the distance being only about 300 metres, Meduza reports.
Story by Chris Strohm and Katrina Manson

(Bloomberg) -- The US and allied countries have disrupted a wide-ranging Russian hacking operation that spied on its adversaries over some 20 years, the Justice Department announced.

Law enforcement agencies penetrated a global network of computers infected with malicious software that the US said Russia’s federal intelligence service used to spy on computers in at least 50 countries, including governments belonging to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Justice Department said Tuesday.

“The Justice Department, together with our international partners, has dismantled a global network of malware-infected computers that the Russian government has used for nearly two decades to conduct cyber-espionage, including against our NATO allies,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

The operations disabled the so-called Snake malware on compromised computers through the use of an FBI-created tool named PERSEUS, which issued commands to overwrite the malware, according to the US.
Story by Joseph Trevithick

Private space services company LeoLabs says its data shows a Chinese reusable space vehicle, believed to be a miniature spaceplane design, docked with or otherwise captured a separate object on multiple occasions during its recent 276-day-long stint in orbit. A highly maneuverable space vehicle with this kind of capability could be used to surveil, disrupt and outright attack an opponent's space-based assets, as well as retrieve or otherwise interact with friendly ones.

The state-run China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, or CASC, announced the space vehicle had landed yesterday, but provided no details about its time in orbit. The company has provided similarly scant details following its launch on August 4, 2022. You can read more about what is known about this reported spaceplane, or at least Chinese work on designs of this kind, as well as the infrastructure to support its operations, in The War Zone's initial reporting on its return to Earth.
Story by Bradford Betz

China on Tuesday said it would react "strictly and strongly" should the European Union slap sanctions on Chinese companies accused of selling equipment for Russia to use in its ongoing war against Ukraine.

Foreign Minister Qin Gang said China would "take the necessary response to firmly protect the legitimate interests of Chinese companies."

Following talks in Berlin with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, Qin said Chinese and Russian companies enjoy "normal exchanges and cooperation" which "should not be affected."
By Diaa Hadid, Abdul Sattar

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan's paramilitary forces arrested former Prime Minister Imran Khan inside a courthouse in the capital Islamabad on Tuesday. The move has escalated political tensions at a time of economic distress in the country.

Khan's arrest triggered rare pushback against the military, the country's most powerful institution.

According to videos shared by Khan's media team, the former prime minister's supporters — mostly men, but also some women — appeared to overrun a gate leading into the compound of Pakistan's military headquarters in the city of Rawalpindi. Shouting "Allah Akbar," or God is great, they are seen in the videos using sticks to smash through the first gate that separates the compound from the road beyond.
The Russian leader spoke of "a real war" being waged against his country as he sought to rally the public in his speech at Moscow's annual parade on Tuesday.
By Yuliya Talmazan

Troops paraded through Red Square and President Vladimir Putin exalted his war in Ukraine on Tuesday, but scaled-back celebrations saw Russia’s cherished Victory Day showcase its vulnerability and military weakness, rather than its might.

The country’s annual holiday marking the defeat of Nazi Germany comes nearly 15 months into its own bloody invasion of its neighbor, and just days after an alleged drone attack on the Kremlin, as well as the public escalation of a bitter feud between top military leaders ahead of an anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Though Kyiv has denied involvement in the mysterious incident, events across the country were curtailed over security fears and mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin renewed his rhetorical assault on the Kremlin's top brass, ensuring the most sacred day on the calendar for Putin’s Russia took place under a growing shadow.
Story by Fatma Khaled

Several videos circulated online on Sunday showing massive black smoke over Russia reportedly caused by a blaze at a construction site in Moscow on the same day that wildfires ravaged other areas in the country.

A fire broke out on Sunday at a construction site that belongs to PIK Group, a Russian real estate construction company headquartered in Moscow, Euromaiden Press reported, citing reports from city residents. The reportedly burning site is located around 5 miles from the FSB Academy.

The cause of the fire remains unknown, but the media outlet reported that the flames broke out after garbage and construction materials caught fire. Euromaiden Press posted a brief clip of the black smoke billowing over buildings in Moscow.

A video of the fire was shared on Twitter by analyst Feher Junior, Irish journalist Jason Corcoran, and former Representative Adam Kinzinger who wrote, "The dreams of Russian expansion?" The clip was also shared on a Telegram channel named "Operational Armed Forces," which posts about operational news of the Ukrainian army, according to its bio on the social media platform.
Story by Tim Newcomb

Chinese scientists say one formidable explosion inside a shock tunnel can turn hot gas into the most powerful hypersonic generator a military has ever seen—strong enough to charge military lasers, rails guns, microwave weapons, and more.

As reported by the South China Morning Post, a new peer-reviewed paper in the Chinese Journal of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics explains how the hypersonic generator turns one detonation inside a shock tunnel into enough electrical current to power hypersonic weapons of the future.

The Chinese scientists were able to use a controlled detonation to turn hot gas into a plasma filled with racing ions, which converted to current. With shock waves accelerating the compressed argon gas to 14 times the speed of sound, the charged ion-filled plasma then passed through magnetohydrodynamics generators to produce electric current up to 212 kilowatts while using.26 gallons of gas. That’s enough power for a burst of energy unlike anything available now in a compact system.
By The Associated Press

KALEHE, Congo — The death toll from flash floods and landslides in eastern Congo has risen beyond 200, with many more people still missing, according to local authorities in the province of South Kivu.

Thomas Bakenge, administrator of Kalehe, the worst-hit territory, told reporters on the scene Saturday that 203 bodies had been recovered so far, but that efforts to find others were continuing.

In the village of Nyamukubi, where hundreds of homes were washed away, rescue workers and survivors dug through the ruins Saturday looking for more bodies in the mud.

Villagers wept as they gathered around some of the bodies recovered so far, which lay on the grass covered in muddy cloths near a rescue workers post.
Story by Ukrainska Pravda

The Republic of Belarus has introduced a temporary border control on the border with Russia.

Source: Belarusian newspaper Zerkalo with reference to sources and hotline of the State Border Committee of Belarus

Details: According to the publication’s sources, a border checkpoint is being established between Russia and Belarus on the M1 highway near the border.
Story by Michael Howie

Awealthy Nigerian politician and his wife have been jailed for plotting to traffic a young man to the UK to harvest his organ for their sick daughter in a legal first. Following a landmark modern slavery case, multi-millionaire Senator Ike Ekweremadu, 60, his wife Beatrice, 56, and medical “middleman” Dr Obinna Obeta, 51, were found guilty at the Old Bailey in March.

Their victim, a poor street trader in Lagos, was brought to the UK to provide a kidney for the Ekweremadus’ 25-year-old daughter Sonia. He fled in fear of his life and walked into a police station exactly a year ago to report what had happened after the Royal Free Hospital called a halt on the private £80,000 procedure.

In a televised sentencing on Friday, Mr Justice Johnson recognised Ike Ekweremadu’s “substantial fall from grace” as he jailed him for nine years and eight months. Beatrice Ekweremadu was jailed for four years and six months and Obeta for 10 years.
Story by Sarah K. Burris

The Scotsman is going after Donald Trump for pretending that Scotland is his homeland. It's been a few weeks since President Joe Biden got a warm reception from Ireland, where he met with leaders, celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Peace Agreement, and traced his family roots while serving as a U.S. president. In a campaign-style rally, Biden gave a speech in his ancestral hometown in west Ireland. He was heralded for coming out to a rousing song by the beloved American Celtic punk band "Dropkick Murphys."

Trump seems to be trying to copy the trip with his own trip to his ancestral homeland for his mother, Mary Anne MacLeod Trump, who was officially given immigration papers in 1930. Unlike Biden, however, Trump isn't getting the same warm embrace. "It's great to be home!" Trump claimed. It's an ironic claim, The Scotsman noted it's "a bit rich coming from a US president infamous for separating children from their migrant parents."
Story by Alex Henderson

Militarily, economically and politically, the Ukraine invasion has been a major drain for Russia — not unlike the Soviet Union's Afghanistan invasion during the 1980s. Nonetheless, President Vladimir Putin is showing no signs of backing down. In a scathing article published by the Daily Beast on May 1, journalist A. Craig Copetas emphasizes that Putin is feeling increasingly desperate as the war drags on.

"He's ignited a dumpster fire kindled with more than 200,000 dead Russian soldiers, whose death march on Ukraine doubled the size of his border with NATO, torched his profitable global energy markets, and recycled him as a Chinese subordinate," Copetas observes. "He's produced the country's largest budget hole since the 1990s and achieved the highest number of sanctions ever leveled against a country…. Vladimir Putin is keen on autocratic traditions and enthusiastic about keeping his Kremlin spick-and-span, but with so much crap piled up inside his fortress after the invasion of Ukraine, arresting critics and assassinating political foes, the one day of traditional spring-cleaning from the beginning of Putin's reign is no longer enough."
Story by David Wetzel

If Russian President Vladimir Putin is assassinated, the country could descend into chaos, a former CIA analyst said. Paul Goble said the potential for an assassination of the leader would likely cause Russia to break up into several mini states.

This is all a result of the Russians' disastrous outcome in Ukraine, where more than a year after invading the country is having trouble making progress. Goble said experts and analysts are now even more "open" to the notion of Russia breaking up into a splintered state, causing the end of the Russian Federation.
Election commission says more than 90 percent of voters back President Mirziyoyev’s constitutional amendments.
aljazeera

Voters in Uzbekistan have overwhelmingly backed constitutional changes that could allow President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to remain in power until 2040, preliminary results show. The elections commission said on Monday that more than 90 percent of voters in the Central Asian country backed the reforms. Turnout in the former Soviet country, where rights groups said the government’s authoritarian tendencies limit space for dissent, was about 85 percent.
Reuters

Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkish intelligence forces killed Islamic State leader Abu Hussein al-Qurashi in Syria.
CNN-News18

A drone strike caused a fire at a fuel storage facility in the Crimean port of Sevastopol, sending a vast column of black smoke into the sky before it was extinguished, the city’s Moscow-installed governor has said. Experts examined the site and “it became clear that only one drone was able to reach the oil reservoir”, Mikhail Razvozhaev said on the Telegram messaging app on Saturday.
By SYLVIA HUI

LONDON (AP) — Musician Deronne White is ready to play on King Charles III’s coronation day. The flautist and his fellow young musicians aren’t playing anything regal or solemn — they’re planning to parade through south London’s streets entertaining crowds with an uplifting “coronation carnival” set mixing gospel, jazz, grime, disco and rap. There’ll even be a calypso take on the U.K. national anthem.

While he’s excited about the gig, White says he has mixed feelings about the coronation. Like some others at the Brixton Chamber Orchestra, White is a descendant of migrants from Jamaica — a former British colony and Commonwealth member that wants to cut its ties with the monarchy and has called for the U.K. royals to address their historical ties to slavery.

“Personally it’s a little bit hard to connect to the whole occasion,” he said. “I think that the coronation could possibly allow people like me to try and connect to (the monarchy). But it can be a bit tough.”
By NICOLE WINFIELD

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) — Pope Francis on Sunday revealed that a secret peace “mission” in Russia’s war in Ukraine was under way, though he gave no details, and said the Vatican is willing to help facilitate the return of Ukrainian children taken to Russia during the war. “I’m available to do anything,” Francis said during an airborne press conference en route home from Hungary. “There’s a mission that’s not public that’s underway; when it’s public I’ll talk about it.”

Francis gave no details when asked whether he spoke about peace initiatives during his talks in Budapest this weekend with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban or the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church in Hungary. Deportations of Ukrainian children have been a concern since Russia invaded Ukraine last year. Francis said the Holy See had already helped mediate some prisoner exchanges and would do “all that is humanly possible” to reunite families. “All human gestures help. Gestures of cruelty don’t help,” Francis said.
Ynet

In 2008 a British Intelligence official landed in Tel Aviv to meet with Israeli counterparts and told them that Britain has a mole in the Iranian nuclear program. He informed other Western intelligence agencies of the same. Following his execution by Iran earlier this year after being convicted of espionage, Alireza Akbari, Iran's former Deputy Defense Minister was revealed as the mole.

According to a New York Times investigative report published on Monday, Akbari's information was the single-most important intelligence revealing the Islamic Republic's underground uranium enrichment facility at Fordo. The paper said present and past diplomats in the U.S., Britain, Germany and Israel as well as diplomats in Tehran, were interviewed for their report.
By Hugo Bachega in Kyiv & Antoinette Radford in London
BBC News

Russia has launched a series of missiles at Ukrainian cities in the second pre-dawn attack in three days. Pavlohrad, a logistics hub near the central city of Dnipro, was hit ahead of a much-anticipated counter-offensive by Ukraine. The strike sparked a major fire, destroyed dozens of houses, and wounded 34 people.

Hours later, the air raid alert sounded across the country, with the capital Kyiv among the targets. Across the country, the Ukrainian army said it shot down 15 of the 18 cruise missiles that had been fired. The most significant damage was in Pavlohrad, a city in Ukrainian-held territory around 70 miles (110km) from the frontline. Pictures posted on social media showed a massive blaze.

One resident, Olha Lytvynenko, said she was getting dressed to leave their house when "both doors were smashed out by the explosion wave". "I ran outside and saw that the garage was destroyed. Everything was on fire, glass shards everywhere. Had we been outside, we would have been killed," she said.
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