Archive for February 3, 2025
The Rwanda-backed rebels who seized a major Congo city declare a unilateral ceasefire
The Rwanda-backed rebels who seized eastern Congo’s key city of Goma announced a unilateral ceasefire in the region Monday for humanitarian reasons, following calls for a safe corridor for aid and hundreds of thousands of displaced people. The M23 rebels said the ceasefire would start Tuesday. The announcement came shortly after the U.N. health agency…
Read MoreNeo-Nazi group leader convicted of plotting Maryland power grid attack
The founder of a Florida-based neo-Nazi group was convicted Monday of conspiring with his former girlfriend to plan an attack on Maryland’s power grid in furtherance of their shared racist beliefs. Brandon Russell, 29, encouraged Sarah Beth Clendaniel to carry out a series of “sniper attacks” on electrical substations around Baltimore that could have caused…
Read MoreRussia accelerating executions of Ukrainian POWs: UN
The United Nations has expressed “alarm” over a sharp rise in reported executions of Ukrainian soldiers captured by Russian armed forces. According to a report published on Monday by the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, 79 executions took place in 24 separate incidents since August 2024. The mission obtained footage and photographs published…
Read MorePro-Russia paramilitary leader killed in Moscow blast
The leader of a pro-Russian paramilitary group in eastern Ukraine has died in hospital after being injured in an explosion in Moscow on Monday morning, Russian media have said. Armen Sargsyan, the leader of the “Arbat” battalion, was severely injured following a blast in the entrance hall of a residential building in north-west Moscow, 12km…
Read MoreDaniel Khalife, former soldier who spied for Iran, jailed for more than 14 years
Daniel Khalife, a former soldier, has been sentenced to more than 14 years in custody and condemned as a “dangerous fool” for spying for Iran and escaping from prison. In September 2023, Khalife, 23, sparked a high-profile manhunt when he broke out of HMP Wandsworth by clinging to the underside of a food delivery truck.…
Read MoreSenior Islamic State Somalia commander captured in Puntland
A senior commander of Islamic State’s Somalia wing was captured on Monday, police and state media said, two days after the IS leadership was targeted with U.S. airstrikes and as security forces continue a weeks-long offensive against them. In the last few years Somalia’s IS franchise has become an increasingly important part of the jihadist…
Read MoreCar bomb kills 15 in northern Syria, deadliest since Assad toppled
A car bomb killed at least 15 people in the Syrian city of Manbij on Monday, the second attack there in three days and Syria’s deadliest since Bashar al-Assad was toppled from power in December. There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the attack in Manbij, located some 30 km (19 miles) from the…
Read More