Author: Spencer Ballard

Ukraine says it has repelled a Russian armoured attack in the north-eastern Kharkiv region, after Moscow’s forces launched an incursion across the border and sought to break through defensive lines. Kharkiv regional head Oleh Syniehubov said Russian reconnaissance groups had tried to penetrate the border, adding that “not a single metre has been lost”. “Russia has launched a new wave of counteroffensive operations in the Kharkiv sector,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Also on Friday, a huge fire broke out at an oil storage depot in Ukraine’s occupied Luhansk region after what Russian-installed officials said was a Ukrainian strike. Three…

Bessie Coleman built an untouchable legacy, but the aviator’s tragic final flight is still shrouded in whispers of sabotage. The skies during Women’s History Month have witnessed a series of historic female flights. On March 16, Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri held the “first all-female two-ship T-38 flyover,” an aerial salute that soared above the KC Current stadium, the “first stadium to be built for women,” according to KSHB. United Airlines also held a special flight on March 7 that epitomized elegance in aviation and inclusivity on the ground. Aboard Flight 1215, which traveled from Newark, NJ, to Sarasota, FL…

Madrid (10/03 – 21.43)Exorcism is a key source of income for Sabohiddin Shodiev, a popular cleric in his rural community on the outskirts of Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan. Shodiev — not his real name — says that every week he treats about 15 clients who ask him to expel what they believe is an evil spirit, or jinni, possessing them, or to rid them from “an evil eye.”The 53-year-old cleric has been practicing exorcisms — which he learned to do from his father — for more than two decades. Most of Shodiev’s clients come from Dushanbe and nearby districts,…

JERUSALEM (AP) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday rejected U.S. calls to scale back Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip or take steps toward the establishment of a Palestinian state after the war, drawing an immediate scolding from the White House. The tense back and forth reflected what has become a wide rift between the two allies over the scope of Israel’s war and its plans for the future of the beleaguered territory. “We obviously see it differently,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby said. Netanyahu spoke just a day after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Israel would…

Berlin (06/12 – 67.67) Asliddin Sherzamonov, an activist from Tajikistan, strongly believes that the United Nations (UN) should assess the actions of the Central Asian country’s security forces during the events of 2021 and 2022 in the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region (GBAO). Speaking at the UN session on minorities held in Geneva on December 1, Asliddin said that an independent international commission should be established to evaluate the activities of Tajikistan’s security forces. In the operations carried out by security forces in 2021 in Roshtkala and Khorog, three people died. In another operations in the spring of 2022 by the security…

Nyon, Manchester, Milan (19/12 – 31) The group phase of the 2023-2024 UEFA Champions League is to conclude this month. Names of the sixteen clubs who will compete in the knock-out phase have been released. On Monday, 18 December 2023, UEFA conducted the draw for the last-16 round, at their headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland. Defending champion Manchester City came out from the draw with the biggest smile as they will face off with the arguably easiest opponent. Pep Guardiola’s team will Danish champion Copenhagen, who were down at 37th in the UEFA club coefficient ranking. As the current title holder,…

Russian forces have ramped up attacks in eastern Ukraine in an attempt to gain ground near two key front line cities, Ukrainian military officials said Sunday. Moscow’s troops have begun a push to regain territory near Bakhmut, the eastern mining city that was the site of the war’s bloodiest battle before falling into Russian hands in May, the head of Ukraine’s ground forces wrote on the Telegram messaging app. Ukrainian troops had recaptured the heights over Bakhmut and made some advances west, north and south of the city since Kyiv launched its summer counteroffensive. “Toward Bakhmut, the Russians have become more active…

Brussels (16/11 – 83) Sri Lanka is still dealing with the aftermath of its most devastating economic crisis since independence, a government without popular support and intensifying geopolitical competition in its neighborhood, a year after the Sri Lanka’s massive unrest. Known as the Aragalaya protests which were spurred by the economic crisis, the protests led to mass resignations across the government with former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fleeing the country in July 2022. In the year since, the country has secured an IMF agreement, and its economy has ambled toward a slow path of recovery. However, there have still been concerns on the human rights front as the current government of Ranil Wickremesinghe has…

A Canadian Coast Guard ship on patrol in the Bay of Fundy experienced an emergency engine shutdown last month that has forced it out of service. The mid-shore fishery patrol vessel CCGS Corporal Teather C.V. was carrying out enforcement activities for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in the Minas Basin on Oct. 23 when a cylinder lining failed on the starboard main engine. The cylinder lining is the inner wall where the piston moves up and down. It is designed to provide a smooth and durable surface for the piston to create a proper seal, needed to efficiently power the crankshaft. The good…

A plea deal pending in Anchorage’s federal court would ban two men from hunting anywhere in the world for four years as punishment for illegally hunting a bull moose in Denali National Park and Preserve. According to documents published Tuesday, Christopher Brumwell and Andrew McDonald agreed to plead guilty to a single count each of illegally transporting wildlife that was hunted in violation of federal law. Prosecutors said Brumwell and McDonald killed a bull moose about 900 yards within the park’s boundaries during a hunt in September 2021, then packed the moose meat and antlers to a spot outside the park in an attempt…