Delhi: Massive fire breaks out at Children’s Eye Hospital, fire tenders rushed to spot
The distress call was received at 11:30 am, prompting the dispatch of 12 fire tenders. Firefighting efforts are currently in progress, the official added.
Lok Sabha Election Results 2024: PM Modi chairs meeting of outgoing Union Cabinet ahead of NDA leaders meet
The NDA leaders are scheduled to meet later today, at Prime Minister Modi’s residence at 3:30 pm. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge announced on his social media platform X that leaders of the INDIA bloc will meet around 6 pm.
Narendra Modi to take oath as Prime Minister for third term on June 8, sources say
The BJP fell 32 seats short of the 272 majority mark after votes polled in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections were counted. For the first time, since the Bharatiya Janata Party swept to power in 2014, it did not secure a majority on its own.
Hunter Biden trial enters 3rd day with cross-examination of FBI agent
WILMINGTON, Del. — First son Hunter Biden’s criminal trial kicked off in earnest on Tuesday, beginning with opening statements before hearing from the case’s first witness, a special agent with the FBI. Jurors heard testimony and opening statements for more than seven hours on Tuesday, including Biden’s defense team setting the stage that his purchase of a Cobra Colt .38 revolver in October 2018 was a hurried purchase promoted by employees at the gun shop – StarQuest Shooters & Survival Supply in Wilmington – who wanted to make a sale. Lowell continued in his opening remarks that the firearm Biden purchased was a “small gun” that was never used in the 11 days Biden had it in his possession. “No one is above the law,” argued prosecutors, who told the jury that during the trial they will present evidence showing Biden was a crack cocaine addict who lied on a federal gun form in order to purchase the firearm. Biden’s 2021 memoir “Beautiful Things” took center stage Tuesday as prosecutors played excerpts from Biden’s audiobook, which is narrated by Biden, in the courtroom. The excerpts detailed anecdotes such as how he linked up with a female drug dealer he nicknamed “Bicycles” who sold him crack cocaine on the streets of Washington, D.C., how he could serve as a “crack daddy” to dealers due to his spiraling addiction, and how he took cocaine from a stranger in a hotel bathroom in Monte Carlo. HUNTER BIDEN’S WIFE LASHES OUT AT FORMER TRUMP AIDE DURING COURT APPEARANCE: ‘PIECE OF S—‘ Though the excerpts from the book contained salacious details, jurors for the case appeared to lose interest at points while the prosecution team played roughly an hour of audiobook excerpts. Jurors were seen yawning, placing their heads in their hands, and even two jurors throughout the day appeared to close their eyes briefly as testimony continued. HUNTER BIDEN’S DRUG USE: WHAT THE PROSECUTION NEEDS TO PROVE AND WHAT WE ALREADY KNOW The court did erupt into chuckles late in the day when presiding Judge Maryellen Noreika told the court that the chair at the witness stand is fixed in its place due to previous witnesses in unrelated cases rocking back and forth before falling off the stand. The judge, as well as the jury and members of the media, laughed at the anecdote before Noreika added that such an instance is “not so funny to witness.” Biden was joined by first lady Jill Biden, his sister, Ashley Biden, and his wife, Melissa Cohen Biden. During breaks, Biden was often drawn to his wife like a magnet, holding her hand and briefly hugging her and giving her a kiss. Jill Biden took her front-row seat in the court for the second time since Monday, flanked by daughter Ashley and daughter-in-law Melissa on either side. Ashley Biden was seen becoming emotional during the trial, with Jill Biden placing her arm around her daughter. HUNTER BIDEN TRIAL: 9 KEY FIGURES WHO MAY TESTIFY The first lady directed her line of vision almost exclusively toward the judge and defense team, unless her family members or allies approached her for a quick chat. At least twice, Jill Biden took a small stack of papers from her cream-colored clutch handbag, which were delicately folded in half, to read or jot down a quick note. The first lady left the courtroom after breaking for lunch. She was in the courtroom as excerpts of the audiobook detailed topics such as Biden’s ability to buy crack cocaine in any city he visited. Lowell also briefly sat with the first lady during a short break in the morning, smiling as the two chatted. Jill Biden seldom stole glances at media members and others sitting behind her in the court. US V HUNTER BIDEN: OPENING STATEMENTS TO BEGIN IN FIRST SON’S FEDERAL GUN TRIAL AFTER JURY SEATED Reports surfaced Tuesday that Melissa Cohen lashed out at a former Trump White House aide, Garrett Ziegler, allegedly pointing her finger at him and saying, “You have no right to be here, you Nazi piece of s—.” Fox News Digital did not witness the tense exchange. Ziegler later confirmed the encounter, telling NBC News, “It’s sad I’ve been sitting here the whole time and haven’t approached anyone.” Ziegler leads the nonprofit group Marco Polo and was sued by Biden last year for publishing the contents of his infamous laptop. Prosecutors in the case allege that in October 2018, Biden visited StarQuest Shooters & Survival Supply to purchase the Colt revolver and that he lied about his drug addiction when he filled out a federal form to purchase the gun. Biden’s form was ticked “No” when asked if he is an unlawful user of a firearm or addicted to controlled substances. He is facing charges of false statement in purchase of a firearm; false statement related to information required to be kept by federal firearms licensed dealer; possession of a firearm by a person who is an unlawful user of or addicted to a controlled substance. HUNTER BIDEN’S CRIMINAL TRIAL ON FEDERAL GUN CHARGES BEGINS WITH JURY SELECTION Biden pleaded not guilty in the case. The total maximum prison time for the three charges could be up to 25 years. Each count carries a maximum fine of $250,000 and three years of supervised release. The trial continues Wednesday with cross-examination of FBI Special Agent Erica Jensen, who testified about dozens of text messages, metadata, photos and short videos found on phones and iCloud accounts belonging to Biden. The defense team is laying the groundwork that at the time of the gun purchase in 2018, Biden had just flown from California to the East Coast, which they appeared to argue would be incongruent with his documented behavior of active addiction. Biden detailed in his book that when he was in active addiction, he missed flights out of fear he would not be able to smoke crack on the plane. In opening statements, Lowell set the framework that Biden’s purchase of a
Taiwan watches Ukraine for lessons on possible war with China
TAIPEI, Taiwan — Ukraine’s existential war for its sovereignty from Russia is giving inspiration to Taiwan, an island thousands of miles away, as it hopes to deter its own authoritarian invasion by China. While their cultures and geography are vastly different, nowhere does Ukraine’s struggle resonate more deeply than on Taiwan’s shores. The Taiwanese people see themselves in the Eastern European nation’s struggle — a comparison made even more stark by the growing alliance between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin. “The situation in Ukraine has been a wake-up call for a lot of people, the Taiwanese included,” Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., told Fox News Digital in Taipei. “I think that we live in this sort of post-World War II, post-Cold War mindset, that somehow that was in the past… There’s sort of this axis of Iran and China and… Russia that is reminiscent of history that we’ve seen before… what I’ve been hearing more from the Taiwanese people who we’ve met with, is a realization or recognition that there’s definitely been a bit of a pivot, and they also have to pivot.” It has inspired a shift in both military and social policies in Taiwan, which is faced with an increasingly aggressive China, and even a road map on how to navigate U.S. support. In particular, American political infighting on Ukraine aid has raised existential questions in Taiwan about the durability of U.S. support in a time of long-term conflict. 35 YEARS AFTER CHINA’S TIANANMEN SQUARE MASSACRE: WHY WE MUST NEVER FORGET “The lesson for Taiwan is that we do know that [an] asymmetric defense, that works well for the defense of Taiwan…as well as the the importance of building up a resilience among society to increase the stamina for the war,” said Dr. I-Chung Lai, president of the Taiwanese think tank The Prospect Foundation. “The war could be long term rather than just in a short period of time, so the whole society needs to come out to anticipate that” “Another thing about it is that the international support. We need to gear up right now rather than sometime later, because first of all, we find that Western support and coherence — it’s very easy for the authoritarian state to really try to divide and conquer, so it is important to build up the support early on.” Lai added that there needs to be an emphasis not just on defending Taiwan, but bringing “the cost of war” to China by developing an offensive strategy as well. COMMUNITIES ABROAD COMMEMORATE TIANANMEN SQUARE VICTIMS AFTER HONG KONG CRACKDOWN QUASHES CEREMONIES Until recently, Taiwan’s military has largely focused on training for an amphibious Chinese invasion, but factors, including the Ukraine war, have prompted talk about shifting to preparations for multiple military situations, known as an asymmetric response. The importance of preparing their society for war is also a key lesson for Taiwan, not just for their internal unity, but also to prove to allies abroad that their support is meaningful. Ukraine’s troops took the world by surprise in February 2022 when they defied the odds to hold off Russia’s invasion despite projections that Kyiv could fall within a matter of days. U.S. lawmakers, who were in Taipei last week to meet with the newly inaugurated government, stressed that the societal component was critical to giving Taiwan a fighting chance in the event of an attack. Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., noted that Taiwan’s government has taken steps to show its allies and its people that it is taking matters of defense seriously, including increasing mandatory military service time by more than double. “There’s a lot more work to do, and I think people here will tell you that, and I think people in America will tell you that. But the fact is, basically seeing the steps that the Taiwanese have taken from…increasing their defense budget, making it over 2%, and then… changing their conscription time from four months to a year… They understand that, basically, looking at Ukraine, that it takes more than just armaments. It takes the will to use those armaments,” he said. House Taiwan Caucus Co-Chair Rep. Andy Barr, R-Ky., said when asked if Taiwan’s residents were ready to defend their island, “They’re getting there.” BIDEN ADMIN SLAMMED AS GRANTING ‘MAJOR COUP’ TO CHINA AFTER TOP OFFICIALS VISIT ON TIANANMEN MASSACRE DATE “I think what’s helped strengthen the will of the people of Taiwan is that they’ve seen what Beijing has done in Hong Kong. They’re seeing what they’re doing in the [Taiwan Strait] with these military exercises,” Barr said. The English-language outlet Taiwan News reported in April that 77% of young Taiwanese people were willing to fight for their country. “Our goal is not to think about the invasion or potential conflict, our goal is to ensure there is that deterrence by providing Taiwan what they need to protect themselves and defend themselves should there be a conflict,” said Rep. Young Kim, R-Calif., who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Indo-Pacific subcommittee. What has inspired some anxiety in Taiwan, however, is political infighting in the U.S. Congress that did see Ukraine get $61 billion in aid, though Kyiv’s supporters said it came six months too late and at a great cost to its forces. Both Republicans and Democrats on the trip who spoke with Fox News Digital would not directly admit it was an issue, but Taiwanese policy experts thought differently. “There are latent concerns about that,” Lai said. He explained that while the U.S. views Taiwan in a “different” way than Ukraine – citing a “standing critical interest” in Taiwan’s semiconductor industry – the island was watching the effects such delays had on Ukrainian weapons stocks closely. “Whether it’s a good thing or bad thing for Ukraine, is that Ukraine can have multiple sources of weapons and deliveries – not just the United States, but also from the European countries. But we can only have one from the U.S.,” Lai said. Dr. Ming-Shih
Conservative legal watchdog sues DOJ for records related to key figure in NY v Trump case
A conservative nonprofit is suing the Department of Justice after it failed to release records requested under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) pertaining to Matthew Colangelo, a key figure in the New York criminal trial of former President Trump. America First Legal (AFL) alleged in the lawsuit filed Monday that New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg – the lead official in Trump’s prosecution – hired Matthew Colangelo in December 2022 to reportedly “jump-start” his office’s investigation of Trump, reportedly due to Mr. Colangelo’s “history of taking on Donald J. Trump and his family business.” TRUMP PROSECUTOR QUIT TOP DOJ POST FOR LOWLY NY JOB IN LIKELY BID TO ‘GET’ FORMER PRESIDENT, EXPERT SAYS The lawsuit states Colangelo previously held senior positions at the DOJ and the New York Attorney General’s Office, “both of which had competing investigations” related to Trump. Colangelo left his high-ranking DOJ post to join Bragg’s investigation of Trump months before the indictment of the former president. “It is not every day that the number three ranking DOJ official — the Acting Associate Attorney General — leaves his post to join a district attorney’s office. Yet, that is exactly what Mr. Colangelo did,” AFL said in a news release. “This calculated move reeks of partisanship.” AFL Executive Director Gene Hamilton told Fox News Digital in an interview Tuesday that they had filed a FOIA request in 2023 to obtain Colangelo’s calendars and records discussing Trump to understand his transition from the DOJ to the Manhattan district attorney’s office. EX-TOP BIDEN DOJ OFFICIAL NOW PROSECUTING TRUMP WAS ONCE PAID BY DNC FOR ‘POLITICAL CONSULTING’. “We’re going to get those records, and we are going to obtain everything from his calendar entries to communications, for everything in between, to show and to help shed a light on this coordinated effort to get Donald Trump, that is unprecedented and has never been done before,” Hamilton said. “Because none of these records are public, and because this is a key central figure involved in the political persecution of Donald Trump, we think it’s vital and critical that we get records.” After AFL’s initial FOIA request, it received an email from the Justice Department that acknowledged the request and asked for an extra 10 days to process the request due to “unusual circumstances,” according to the lawsuit. On Aug. 28, 2023, AFL replied to the email and agreed “to exclude publicly available news article compilations, provided they were not commented on by department personnel.” NY V TRUMP: HOUSE JUDICIARY INVESTIGATES BRAGG PROSECUTOR WHO HELD SENIOR ROLE IN BIDEN DOJ The Justice Department did not release any documents, the lawsuit alleges. The AFL is not the only party interested in obtaining Colangelo’s records. Last month, Republican House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan sent a letter to New York Attorney General Letitia James demanding that her office turn over Colangelo’s documents. “Mr. Colangelo’s recent employment history demonstrates his obsession with investigating a person rather than prosecuting a crime,” Jordan wrote in his letter to James. Colangelo has a lengthy resume in government, working in a variety of legal roles that date to the Obama administration, Fox News Digital previously reported. He most recently served nearly two years in the Biden Justice Department, including as acting associate attorney general and overseeing the Antitrust, Civil, Civil Rights, Environment and Natural Resources, and Tax Divisions. The Justice Department did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment by press deadline. Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton contributed to this report.
Biden displays signs of decline in private meetings with congressional leaders: Report
President Biden has shown signs of poor cognitive performance in private meetings with congressional lawmakers, as his age and mental acuity continue to come into question ahead of November’s presidential election. Biden, 81, is the oldest person to hold the presidency and has faced skepticism from voters and Republican lawmakers about his ability to do his job. Many Republicans and even some Democrats said the president showed his age in private meetings, according to The Wall Street Journal, which spoke with 45 lawmakers and administration officials about the president’s mental performance. Most of the people interviewed by the outlet who were critical of Biden’s performance were Republicans, although some Democrats said the president showed his age in several exchanges. These interviewees participated in meetings with Biden or were briefed on them contemporaneously, including administration officials and other Democrats who did not express concerns about how the president handled the meetings. When meeting with congressional leaders in January to negotiate a deal to send additional funding to Ukraine, Biden spoke so softly at times that some people struggled to hear him, five people familiar with the meeting told The Wall Street Journal. The president read from notes to make obvious points, paused for extended periods of time and even closed his eyes for so long that some people in the meeting wondered if he had tuned out. BIDEN SAYS WORLD LEADERS ARE SCARED OF ANOTHER TRUMP PRESIDENCY, TELL HIM ‘YOU CAN’T LET’ TRUMP WIN In February, when Biden met one-on-one with House Speaker Mike Johnson, the president said a recent policy change by his administration that jeopardizes some big energy projects was just a study, according to six people who were told at the time about what Johnson recalled from the meeting. Johnson was concerned the president had forgotten about the details of his own policy. Last year, when Biden was negotiating with House Republicans to lift the debt ceiling, his demeanor and command of the details appeared to change from one day to the next, then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and two others familiar with the talks said. He appeared sharp with loose and spontaneous exchanges with Republicans on one day, and mumbled and seemed to rely on notes on other days. “I used to meet with him when he was vice president. I’d go to his house. He’s not the same person,” McCarthy said. Previously having a reputation in Washington for being a master negotiator of legislative deals, possessing detailed knowledge of issues and insights into the other side’s motivations and needs and for excelling under pressure, Biden is now perceived, particularly in the last year after Republicans took control of the House, as an aging president with poor cognitive ability at times. White House officials, however, dismissed many of the accounts from people who have met with the president or been briefed on those meetings, saying such criticisms were motivated by partisan politics. “Congressional Republicans, foreign leaders and nonpartisan national-security experts have made clear in their own words that President Biden is a savvy and effective leader who has a deep record of legislative accomplishment,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said. “Now, in 2024, House Republicans are making false claims as a political tactic that flatly contradict previous statements made by themselves and their colleagues.” In Biden’s meeting on Ukraine in January, the president laid out a compelling case for providing aid, according to administration officials and some participants, who said it is common practice to use notes in these meetings. Bates also denied claims that Biden had misspoken during his meeting with Johnson in February about energy policy. Administration aides familiar with last year’s debt-ceiling negotiations recalled that Biden was effective, that he was not directly involved and had provided detailed instructions behind the scenes. The aides said McCarthy privately told administration officials at the time that he was impressed with Biden’s performance, and that the former Speaker suggested in public remarks that the president appeared sharp. The aides said the passage of both Ukraine funding and a debt-ceiling increase without major concessions to Republicans shows he succeeded. Former President Trump, Biden’s biggest threat in the presidential election, at 77-years-old, has also faced criticism over his mental acuity as he has shown signs of poor memory, giving inaccurate facts and slipping up in public remarks, allowing both Democrats and Republicans to attack their political foe over mental sharpness. Some who attended the meetings with Biden blamed his slip-ups on his speech impediment and tendency to be long-winded. People who expressed concern about the president said the behavior they observed suggested unevenness, rather than a confused leader that some of his political opponents have described. The White House said the president’s doctors have found him fit to serve, and that his recent annual physical showed no need for a cognitive test. Members of the administration provided several examples of other instances they say showed the president was sharp and engaged, including long hours in the Situation Room in April during and after Iran’s missile attack on Israel, and late nights on the phone with lawmakers from the White House. Voters’ concerns about the mental acuity of Biden and Trump are shaped largely by their speeches and other public appearances. BIDEN ORDER TO BLOCK MOST ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS WHEN CROSSINGS SURGE, AS ELECTION NEARS During a campaign event in Detroit last month, Biden suggested he was vice president during the COVID-19 pandemic, which started during the Trump administration. The following day, during a Rose Garden event celebrating Jewish American Heritage month, Biden initially said one of the U.S. hostages held in Gaza was a guest at the White House event before correcting himself. In January, Biden mixed up two of his Hispanic cabinet secretaries, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra. At a February fundraiser in New York, he recalled speaking to German Chancellor Helmut Kohl at the 2021 Group of Seven meeting, despite the fact that Kohl died in 2017. During
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 831
As the war enters its 831st day, these are the main developments. Here is the situation on Wednesday, June 5, 2024. Fighting At least eight people were injured, including a one-month-old baby, after a Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s central city of Dnipro. Andriy Yermak, the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, said the United States’s move to allow Kyiv to use Western weapons to strike inside Russia was a “vital decision” that would weaken Russia in its border areas and enable Ukraine to better defend its territory in the northeastern region of Kharkiv. Ukraine held a day of remembrance for the hundreds of children killed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska urged the country’s allies to supply the military with more weapons to fend off Russian attacks and prevent such deaths. The United Nations says more than 600 children have been confirmed dead in the war, but the real figure is considerably higher. Politics and diplomacy A senior official in the US Department of Treasury said the US and its Group of Seven (G7) partners were making progress on finding ways to provide more urgently-needed funds to Ukraine through the profits earned on $300bn in frozen Russian assets. The White House said the issue would be discussed at the G7 summit in Italy on June 13-14. The office of French President Emmanuel Macron said he would hold talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Paris on Friday and “discuss the situation on the ground” in Ukraine. Zelenskyy will also address France’s National Assembly. Ukraine marked the Day of Commemoration for Children, who died following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, [Yuriy Dyachyshyn/AFP] A Russian military court in the northern Karelia region bordering Finland sentenced a man to 14 years in prison for state treason, saying he had set fire to railway infrastructure on Ukrainian orders, according to the Interfax news agency. The man was not named. A Russian court extended the pre-trial detention of Alsu Kurmasheva, a Russian-American journalist in Prague with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, by two months in a move her husband called unjust. The decision was handed down on Friday. Kurmasheva has been in custody in the Tatarstan region since October 18. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the planned peace conference for Ukraine taking place in Switzerland from June 15-16 was “absurd”. Switzerland has said more than 80 delegations have confirmed their attendance. Russia, which insists talks must start based on its occupation of about 18 percent of Ukraine, has not been invited. China has said it will not attend. Weapons Russia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov said any French military instructors training soldiers in Ukraine would be an “absolutely legitimate target” for Russian attacks. France does not officially have military personnel assisting or training Ukrainian forces in Ukraine at the moment, but Kyiv said last week it was “in talks” with Paris on the issue. Ukraine’s anticorruption agency said the former director of Ukrspetsexport, Ukraine’s state-run defence firm, faces trial after arranging to buy aeroplane parts at a price inflated seven-fold while in charge of arms imports in 2016. The National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) did not name the man. Adblock test (Why?)
Sunak and Starmer clash in heated first debate of UK general election
The two men clash over tax, health and the cost of living in fractious debate that failed to land any knockout blows. The leaders of the United Kingdom’s two top political parties have faced off in their first live television debate of the election campaign, attacking each other over issues from tax to immigration and the National Health Service (NHS). Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer, the leader of the opposition Labour Party, took the floor on Tuesday night in the northwestern town of Salford with a month to go before the July 4 election. Sunak, whose party is behind by some 20 percentage points in the opinion polls, took a combative approach, lashing out at Labour over tax, noting that inflation had eased to 2 percent and that he had a plan to boost the sluggish economy. Starmer pointed to the austerity of the Conservatives’ early years in government and the chaos of the more recent past, which saw the removal of then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson amid money and ethics scandals, and the brief but devastating 49-day tenure of Liz Truss, whose tax-cutting plans sent mortgages soaring. Sunak became party leader and prime minister in October 2022. The Labour leader said the election was a choice between more “chaos and division” with the Conservatives and “turning the page and rebuilding with Labour”. Both men were told repeatedly not to speak over each other and asked to lower their voices as they clashed over issues ranging from immigration and education to health, but neither outlined any new plans. Sunak, a former banker and one of the UK’s richest people, drew groans when he blamed NHS waiting lists on doctor strikes, and was greeted by laughter when he said the numbers were going down “because they were higher” before. But he seemed to make up some ground with the audience when discussing how he planned to tackle immigration, claiming his controversial plan to send certain asylum seekers to Rwanda was a deterrent. Starmer said he also had a plan to tackle immigration and that he would consider processing asylum claims in a third country as long as it did not breach international law. After the debate ended, a YouGov snap poll gave Sunak a slight edge, with 51 percent saying he performed better overall, compared with 49 percent for Starmer. Broken down into issues, however, respondents said Starmer did far better on the cost of living, the NHS, education and climate change. Sunak was seen as doing well only on tax and, by a narrow margin, on immigration. Rob Ford, a professor of political science at the University of Manchester, said the evening would probably be seen as good for Sunak since his party is so behind in the polls. “Will it matter in the end? Probably not. But it’s a bit of good news for Cons[ervatives] after a pretty rough few days. Will help with morale, at a minimum,” he wrote on X. The run-up to the clash was overshadowed by the populist politician Nigel Farage, who announced this week he would campaign for a seat in parliament as leader of the right-wing, anti-immigration Reform party. Farage, who once had a seat in the European Parliament, has failed seven times to become a UK MP. He is running this time in the eastern seaside town of Clacton, which backed his pet policy of Brexit and where the incumbent Conservative won a nearly 26,000 vote majority in 2019. Opinion polls suggest Labour’s lead has held firm against the Conservatives, who have been in power since 2010, in the nearly two weeks since the campaign began. Several more debates are scheduled before polling day, some featuring multiple party leaders as well as the two front-runners. Adblock test (Why?)
French military trainers would be ‘legitimate target’ in Ukraine: Lavrov
Ukraine has said paperwork has been signed that would allow French instructors to train Kyiv’s soldiers. Any French military instructors sent to Ukraine would be a “legitimate target” for Russian armed forces, Russia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov said after Ukrainian officials revealed they were seeking training assistance for their troops from France. Lavrov made the remarks at a joint news conference on Tuesday with the Republic of the Congo’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean Claude Gakosso. “As for the French instructors, I think they are already on the Ukrainian territory,” Lavrov said. “Regardless of their status, military officials or mercenaries represent a legitimate target for our armed forces.” Ukraine’s top commander said last week he had signed paperwork that would soon allow French military instructors to access Ukrainian training centres. Afterwards, French President Emmanuel Macron said he would not comment on “rumours or decisions that could be made” and that he would elaborate on France’s support during events later this week to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day where he will be joined by leaders including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Macron’s office on Tuesday said it would not comment on Lavrov’s remarks. There is no evidence that French instructors are in Ukraine. Lavrov has visited Africa several times in the past few years as Russia seeks to shore up support amid Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Several African countries in recent years have expressed growing frustration with their traditional Western partners like France and the United States and some have turned to Russia for help in fighting Islamic insurgencies. Lavrov on Tuesday also dismissed the Ukraine peace conference due to take place later this month in Switzerland. Russia, which insists any discussions need to start with on-the-ground “realities”, has not been invited. It currently occupies about 18 percent of Ukrainian territory. “This conference in Switzerland has no meaning,” Lavrov said. “The only meaning it can have is to try to preserve this anti-Russian bloc which is in the process of crumbling.” Switzerland has said that more than 80 delegations have confirmed their attendance. China, which has deepened its relationship with Moscow, said last week it would not attend. The Republic of the Congo was the second stop on Lavrov’s tour. He visited Guinea on Monday and met the country’s foreign minister. Late on Tuesday, he landed at the airport of the Burkina Faso capital Ouagadougou, the country’s authorities said in a statement on social media. Lavrov was scheduled to meet on Wednesday with Captain Ibrahim Traore, the country’s leader who took power following a 2022 military coup. He was expected in Chad on Wednesday afternoon, the country’s authorities said in a statement. Adblock test (Why?)