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Matthew Perry Pledges to Remove Controversial Keanu Reeves Comments From Future Memoir Editions: ‘I Said a Stupid Thing’ - Variety
1. Matthew Perry Pledges to Remove Controversial Keanu Reeves Comments From Future Memoir Editions: ‘I Said a Stupid Thing’ Variety
2. Matthew Perry is removing controversial mentions of Keanu Reeves from future editions of memoir CNN
3. Matthew Perry says he will remove Keanu Reeves diss from new editions of his memoir: 'It was a mean thing to do' Yahoo Entertainment
4. Matthew Perry Vows To Remove Keanu Reeves References From Future Editions Of His Memoir Deadline
5. Matthew Perry to remove Keanu Reeves' name from his memoir after insulting 'John Wick' actor New York Post
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Full Sununu: Banning abortion isn't 'one of the priorities of the 'next generation' of GOP - NBC News
1. Full Sununu: Banning abortion isn't 'one of the priorities of the 'next generation' of GOP NBC News
2. Sununu: Trump is positioning himself to be a ‘four-time loser’ in 2024 The Hill
3. Republican Lawmakers Issue Stark Warning to Their Party on Abortion Newsweek
4. Gov. Sununu on 2024 primary: 'We want a winner. … Trump is a loser' NBC News
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47 bodies of cult-members found at a mass grave in Kenya | WION Pulse - WION
1. 47 bodies of cult-members found at a mass grave in Kenya | WION Pulse WION
2. Bodies exhumed in Kenya starvation cult probe CNN
3. Kenya: Cult followers starved to death to 'meet Jesus,' 21 bodies found Insider
4. Kenya cult deaths: 47 bodies found in investigation into 'starvation cult' BBC
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Majorities don’t want Biden, Trump to run in 2024: survey - The Hill
1. Majorities don’t want Biden, Trump to run in 2024: survey The Hill
2. Huge majority of Americans oppose Biden running again, citing one 'major' factor: poll Fox News
3. Biden expected to announce 2024 campaign this week WFAA
4. If Biden runs in 2024, he’ll have a big advantage: a huge campaign chest | Opinion Yahoo News
5. Opinion | Biden Should Take Voters' Concerns About Age Seriously The New York Times
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American Airlines plane engine catches fire after possible bird strike - CNN
1. American Airlines plane engine catches fire after possible bird strike CNN
2. American Airlines flight forced to return to airport after engine catches fire New York Post
3. Fiery scare on Dallas-bound American Airlines flight | GMA ABC News
4. Bird causes plane to catch fire after takeoff at Columbus airport The Columbus Dispatch
5. A jogger overheard a plane in the sky. See what happened next CNN
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Loyal Bed Bath & Beyond NYC customers 'devastated' after bankruptcy filing - New York Post
1. Loyal Bed Bath & Beyond NYC customers 'devastated' after bankruptcy filing New York Post
2. Bed Bath & Beyond plans to liquidate all inventory and go out of business CNN
3. Bed Bath & Beyond files for bankruptcy protection Eyewitness News ABC7NY
4. Opinion: Why I’ll miss Bed Bath & Beyond CNN
5. Bed Bath & Beyond files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after last-ditch efforts fail Fox Business
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NSA slapped as Amritpal Singh seen as ISI pawn to revive militancy in Punjab - Times of India
1. NSA slapped as Amritpal Singh seen as ISI pawn to revive militancy in Punjab Times of India
2. India arrests Sikh separatist leader Reuters
3. How Spotlight On Amritpal Singh's British Wife May Have Led To His Arrest NDTV
4. Detention of Amritpal Singh's wife unconstitutional, says SAD The Tribune India
5. Separatist Sikh Preacher Amritpal Singh Arrested By Indian Police in Punjab Bloomberg
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Lionel Richie's daughter Sofia Richie marries music executive Elliot Grainge in South of France - Fox News
1. Lionel Richie's daughter Sofia Richie marries music executive Elliot Grainge in South of France Fox News
2. Sofia Richie Stuns in 3 Chic Chanel Wedding Dresses PEOPLE
3. Sofia Richie's Wedding Dress Fitting | Vogue Vogue
4. Nicole Richie shares a sweet wedding photo of her little sister Sofia msnNOW
5. Nicole Richie Shares Sweet Photo of Sister Sofia on Her Wedding Day: 'I Love You More Than Anything' PEOPLE
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Jeff Shell, C.E.O. of NBCUniversal, Steps Down After Inquiry - The New York Times
1. Jeff Shell, C.E.O. of NBCUniversal, Steps Down After Inquiry The New York Times
2. NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell to leave company after probe into 'inappropriate relationship with a woman' CNN
3. Jeff Shell Ousted at NBCUniversal for ‘Inappropriate Relationship’ Variety
4. NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell is out after admitting inappropriate relationship CNBC
5. NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell steps down due to 'inappropriate relationship' Fox News
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Voice of America
US 'Deeply Concerned' by Azerbaijan's Checkpoint on Lachin Corridor Bridge
The U.S. government said it is "deeply concerned" by Azerbaijan establishing a checkpoint on the only land route to the contested region of Nagorno-Karabakh, saying it undermines efforts toward peace in the region.
"The United States is deeply concerned that Azerbaijan’s establishment of a checkpoint on the Lachin corridor undermines efforts to establish confidence in the peace process," the U.S. State Department said in a statement on Sunday.
The State Department urged free and open movement of people and commerce on the Lachin corridor and also called on the parties "to resume peace talks and refrain from provocations and hostile actions along the border."
Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, but its 120,000 inhabitants are predominantly ethnic Armenians and it broke away from Baku in a war in the early 1990s.
Azerbaijan on Sunday said it had established a checkpoint on the road leading to Karabakh due to what it cast as Armenia's use of the road to transport weapons, a step that was followed by claims of border shootings by both Azeri and Armenian forces.
Armenia said the checkpoint at the Hakari bridge in the Lachin corridor was a gross violation of the 2020 cease-fire agreement which ended a 2020 war.
Armenia called on Russia to implement the agreement, which states that the Lachin corridor, the only road across Azerbaijan that links Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh, must be under Russian peacekeepers' control.
Nagorno-Karabakh was the focal point of two wars that have pitted Armenia against Azerbaijan in the more than 30 years since both ex-Soviet states achieved independence. Russia and Armenia are officially allies through a mutual self-defense pact, but Moscow also seeks to maintain good relations with Azerbaijan.
Voice of America
US Transplant Surgeon Heads to Ukraine to Save Lives
An organ transplant surgeon from New York is planning a third trip to Ukraine, where he has been working with doctors to help patients caught up in Russia’s war on Ukraine. The surgeon, Dr. Robert Montgomery, is also working to raise money to buy medical equipment for a hospital in Lviv. Iryna Solomko has the story, narrated by Anna Rice. VOA footage by Pavlo Terekhov.
Voice of America
Baltics Condemn China Envoy's Stance on Ex-Soviet Nations
The three Baltic states have strongly condemned comments by China's envoy to France, who appeared to suggest in a recent French television interview that former Soviet republics aren't sovereign nations.
The foreign ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in separate announcements late Saturday deemed statements by Lu Shaye, China's ambassador to France, as unacceptable.
In a recent interview with the French news channel LCI, he was asked if he thought that the Crimean Peninsula belongs to Ukraine. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, a move that most of the world denounced as illegal.
"That depends ... on how one perceives this problem," the envoy told the broadcaster. "There's the history. Crimea was at the beginning Russian, no? It was (Soviet leader Nikita) Khrushchev who gave Crimea to Ukraine in the era of the Soviet Union."
When the channel's presenter noted that according to international law, Crimea is part of Ukraine, the Chinese ambassador drew a parallel to the former Soviet republics — including the three Baltic nations — that broke free after the USSR collapsed in 1991.
"With regards to international law, even these ex-Soviet Union countries, they do not, they do not have the status — how to say it? — that's effective in international law, because there is no international agreement to solidify their status as a sovereign country," he said.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis tweeted, "If anyone is still wondering why the Baltic States don't trust China to 'broker peace in Ukraine,' here's a Chinese ambassador arguing that Crimea is Russian and our countries' borders have no legal basis."
His Estonian counterpart, Margus Tsahkna, said the Chinese ambassador's comments were "false and a misinterpretation of history," while Latvian Foreign Minister Edgar Rinkevics said that the statements were "completely unacceptable."
Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius would each summon China's ambassador or representative for an explanation of the envoy's comments, the three Baltic countries said. European Union and NATO members Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania regained their independence in 1991 amid the fall of the Soviet Union after nearly five decades of Moscow's rule.
In a separate statement, France's foreign ministry expressed concern about the ambassador's comments about ex-Soviet states and said: "It's for China to say whether these comments reflect its position, which we hope is not the case."
The French ministry said these countries gained independence "after decades of oppression" and that in the specific case of Ukraine, "the entirety of the international community, including China," recognized its borders, including Crimea, when it declared independence in 1991.
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Sunday criticized the Chinese ambassador's "unacceptable remarks" on former Soviet republics' sovereignty.
"The EU can only suppose these declarations do not represent China's official policy," he tweeted.
President Vladimir Putin of Russia, which is China's ally, has said several times that he doesn't recognize the sovereignty of Ukraine. The Kremlin also has made clear that it perceives the independence of the Baltic states and their active role in NATO and the EU as threats to Russia's security.
Voice of America
Russia 'Will Not Forgive' US Denial of Journalist Visas
Russia said Sunday that the United States has denied visas to journalists who wanted to cover Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's trip to New York, and Lavrov suggested that Moscow would take strong retaliatory measures.
There was no immediate comment from the U.S. State Department about the claim of refused visas. "The United States takes seriously its obligations as host country of the U.N. under the U.N. Headquarters Agreement, including with respect to visa issuance," a State Department spokesperson said in a statement.
The journalists aimed to cover Lavrov's appearance at the United Nations to mark Russia's chairmanship of the Security Council.
"A country that calls itself the strongest, smartest, free and fair country has chickened out and done something stupid by showing what its sworn assurances about protecting freedom of speech and access to information are really worth," Lavrov said before leaving Moscow on Sunday.
"Be sure that we will not forget and will not forgive," he said.
"I emphasize that we will find ways to respond to this, so that the Americans will remember for a long time not to do this," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.
The dispute comes in the wake of high tensions with Washington over the arrest last month of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, whom Russia accuses of espionage. The United States has declared him to be "wrongfully detained."
Many Western journalists stationed in Moscow left the country after Russia sent troops into Ukraine. Russia currently requires foreign journalists to renew their visas and accreditation every three months, compared to once a year before the fighting began.
inevitable, said David Herzberg, a historian of drugs at the University of Buffalo.
"The balancing act is so tricky," he said.
Laws in 10 states and Washington allow dying people with a prognosis of six months or less to end their lives with a lethal combination of medications covered by the DEA rule. But such patients are often too sick to visit a doctor in person or they live hundreds of kilometers from the nearest willing and qualified provider, Shavelson said.
There are similar issues for the 1.7 million Medicare recipients enrolled in hospice care in the United States, said Judi Lund Person, who oversees regulatory compliance for the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization. Rolling back online prescribing flexibilities could mean a dying patient would wait for days for drugs to ease pain and other symptoms.
"They just don't have time for that," she said.
Shavelson and his colleagues called for an exception to the rule for the hundreds of patients a year who qualify for medically assisted suicide. Both the American Medical Association and the California Medical Association sent letters asking the DEA to carve out provisions for doctors prescribing the most dangerous category of drugs to patients receiving hospice or palliative care.
"These patients are extremely fragile and their medical conditions do not allow them to easily access a physician's office," wrote Dr. Donaldo D. Hernandez, president of the California group. Such people pose a "reduced risk for abuse" given their clear need for the medications.
Congress directed the DEA in 2008 to create exceptions for certain providers to permit remote prescribing, but the agency has not done so, Virginia Democrat Sen. Mark Warner said in a statement last month.
DEA officials did not respond to questions about whether COVID-19 telehealth waivers would remain in effect if the proposed rule isn't finalized by May 11 or whether the agency will allow exceptions for remote prescribing.
During the pandemic, prescriptions for medically assisted suicide went up, in some cases significantly. In Oregon, for instance, they climbed nearly 49%, to 432 in 2022 from 290 in 2019. The number of deaths under the law in that state rose, too, to 246 from 170. Nationally, at least 1,300 people die each year using the process, according to available state figures.
Telemedicine was key to access during the COVID emergency, said Dr. Robin Plumer, the New Jersey doctor who prescribed the drugs Teri Sheridan took. Plumer has overseen 80 assisted suicide deaths since 2020. Without online prescribing, 35% to 40% of her patients wouldn't have been able to use the law.
"I feel like we've taught people over the past couple of years that telemedicine does work in so many areas and it's a great improvement for people," especially for those who are homebound or dying, Plumer said.
"And what?" she said. "They're suddenly going to yank that away?"
Voice of America
In US, Dying Patients Protest Looming Telehealth Crackdown
At age 93, struggling with the effects of a stroke, heart failure and recurrent cancer, Teri Sheridan was ready to end her life using New Jersey's law that allows medically assisted suicide — but she was bedbound, too sick to travel.
So last Nov. 17, surrounded by three of her children, Sheridan drank a lethal dose of drugs prescribed by a doctor she had never met in person, only online. She died within minutes.
Soon, others who seek Sheridan's final option may find it out of reach, the unintended result of a federal move to roll back online prescribing of potentially addictive drugs allowed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"How much should one person suffer?" said Sheridan's daughter, Georgene White, 68. "She wanted to just go to sleep and not wake up."
Online prescribing rules for controlled drugs were relaxed three years ago under emergency waivers to ensure critical medications remained available during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has proposed a rule that would reinstate most previously longstanding requirements that doctors see patients in person before prescribing narcotic drugs such as Oxycontin, amphetamines such as Adderall, and a host of other potentially dangerous drugs.
The aim is to reduce improper prescribing of these drugs by telehealth companies that boomed during the pandemic. Given the ongoing opioid epidemic, allowing continued broad use of telemedicine prescribing "would pose too great a risk to the public health and safety," the proposed rule said. It also cracks down on how doctors can prescribe other less-addictive drugs, like Xanax, used to treat anxiety, and buprenorphine, a narcotic used to treat opioid addiction.
The rule would allow some of these drugs to be prescribed with telemedicine for an initial 30-day dose, though patients would need to be seen in person to get a refill. And patients who have been referred to a new doctor by one they had previously met in person could continue to receive prescriptions for the drugs via telemedicine.
DEA Administrator Anne Milgram called the plan "telemedicine with guardrails."
The agency, with input from the Department of Health and Human Services, is working to finalize the rule by May 11, when the COVID public health emergency officially ends, an HHS spokeswoman said. If approved by then, the new requirements would take effect in November.
The proposal has sparked a massive backlash, including more than 35,000 comments to a federal portal and calls from advocates, members of Congress and medical groups to reconsider certain patients or provisions.
"They completely forgot that there was a population of people who are dying," said Dr. Lonny Shavelson, a California physician who chairs the American Clinicians Academy on Medical Aid in Dying, a coalition of doctors who help patients access care under so-called right-to-die laws.
Among the biggest complaints: The rule would delay or block access for patients who seek medically assisted suicide and hospice care, critics said. Many of the comments -- including nearly 10,000 delivered in person to DEA offices -- came from doctors and patients protesting the effect of the rule on seriously ill and dying patients.
"Please do not make the end of life harder for me," wrote Lynda Bluestein, 75, of Bridgeport, Connecticut. In March, Bluestein, who has terminal fallopian tube cancer, reached a settlement with the state of Vermont that will allow her to be the first non-resident to use its medically assisted suicide law. By the time she's ready to use the drugs, she expects to be too ill to travel to see a doctor in person for the prescription, she wrote.
The clash between desperate patients who need treatment and DEA's efforts to bar telehealth companies from overprescribing dangerous medications was [...]
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McCarthy accuses Biden of ignoring GOP over debt ceiling negotiations as talks stall: 'Rests upon his feet' - Fox News
1. McCarthy accuses Biden of ignoring GOP over debt ceiling negotiations as talks stall: 'Rests upon his feet' Fox News
2. Should Biden negotiate with the GOP over the debt ceiling? Yahoo News
3. Kevin McCarthy says House will pass GOP debt-limit bill this week The Boston Globe
4. McCarthy Says House Will Pass GOP Debt-Limit Bill This Week Bloomberg
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Supreme court justices think selves exempt from rules, top Democrat says - The Guardian
1. Supreme court justices think selves exempt from rules, top Democrat says The Guardian
2. Chief SCOTUS Justice Roberts denies request to testify on ethics amid Thomas reports WFAA
3. Chief Justice John Roberts punts on request to investigate Clarence Thomas CNN
4. Democrats increase calls for ethics probe into SCOTUS Justice Clarence Thomas MSNBC
5. Clarence Thomas' gifts from a wealthy GOP donor show a 'conflict of interest,' says Sen. Dick Durbin Yahoo News
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Russia 'will not forgive' U.S. denial of journalist visas - POLITICO
1. Russia 'will not forgive' U.S. denial of journalist visas POLITICO
2. Russia Upset Its Reporters Denied U.S. Visas After WSJ Journalist's Arrest Newsweek
3. Moscow Slams U.S. After Russian Journalists Denied Visas for UN Visit The Moscow Times
4. Russia 'will not forgive' US denial of journalist visas – KION546 KION
5. ‘We will not forgive’: Moscow fumes after US allegedly denied visas to Russian journalists for UN visit WION
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9 teenagers shot, wounded at after-prom party in Texas - ABC News
1. 9 teenagers shot, wounded at after-prom party in Texas ABC News
2. Texas after-prom party devolves into shooting, leaving 9 people wounded Fox News
3. BREAKING: At least 9 teens wounded in shooting at after-prom party, police say ABC 7 Chicago
4. Sheriff's Office: Shooting at after-prom party north of Jasper leaves nine teens injured, second shooting could be related 12newsnow.com KBMT-KJAC
5. At least 9 teens injured after shots fired at Texas after-prom party CNN
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Ukrainian forces establish a foothold along Dnipro River as speculation mounts over spring counteroffensive: report - New York Post
Ukrainian forces establish a foothold along Dnipro River as speculation mounts over spring counteroffensive: report New York Post View Full Coverage on Google News
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Aaron Rodgers trade to Jets could come within week, per Ian Rapoport - NBC Sports
1. Aaron Rodgers trade to Jets could come within week, per Ian Rapoport NBC Sports
2. Jets, Packers have hope deal for Aaron Rodgers can be done this week: report Fox News
3. Jets, Packers recently re-engaged in trade talks surrounding QB Aaron Rodgers NFL.com
4. Chatter won’t stop of Aaron Rodgers to 49ers NBC Sports
5. Calais Campbell expects to play EDGE with the Falcons The Falcoholic
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Twitter Blue marks show up for dead celebrities, sowing confusion - The Hill
1. Twitter Blue marks show up for dead celebrities, sowing confusion The Hill
2. Celebrities now working to remove their apparently mandatory Twitter checkmarks The A.V. Club
3. Ian McKellen and more call out 'madness' as 'blue ticks' restored days after removal The Independent
4. Outraged Blue Checks Get Their Badges Back and Really REALLY Want You to Know They Didn’t Pay $8 For Them Mediaite
5. Prominent personalities lose Blue Tick as Twitter begins purge | Latest English News | WION WION
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Warriors vs. Kings: TV channel, Game 4 odds, 2023 NBA playoffs live stream, watch online - CBS Sports
1. Warriors vs. Kings: TV channel, Game 4 odds, 2023 NBA playoffs live stream, watch online CBS Sports
2. NBA playoffs: Draymond Green picks up technical foul in his first minute back from Kings-Warriors suspension Yahoo Sports
3. Golden State Warriors’ impressive youngster has flipped opinion on his future Blue Man Hoop
4. Sacramento Kings at Golden State Warriors odds, picks and predictions USA TODAY Sportsbook Wire
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Ukraine Russia live war updates: Russian issues warning to G-7 'idiots' - USA TODAY
1. Ukraine Russia live war updates: Russian issues warning to G-7 'idiots' USA TODAY
2. Russia's Medvedev warns Moscow will scrap grain deal if G7 bans exports Reuters.com
3. Russia's Medvedev Says G-7 Export Ban to Trigger Grain Deal Exit Bloomberg
4. Medvedev threatens to terminate grain deal if G7 bans exports to Russia Yahoo News
5. Latest on the Ukraine war: Russia warns grain deal in peril Reuters
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Voice of America
39 Bodies Dug Up in Cult Investigation of Pastor in Kenya
Thirty-nine bodies have been found so far on land owned by a pastor in coastal Kenya who was arrested for telling his followers to fast to death.
Malindi sub-county police chief John Kemboi said that more shallow graves have yet to be dug up on the land belonging to pastor Paul Makenzi, who was arrested on April 14 over links to cultism.
The total death toll is 43, because a further four people died after they and others were discovered starving at the Good News International Church last week.
Police have asked a court to allow them to hold Makenzi longer as investigations into the deaths of his followers continue.
A tipoff from members of the public led police to raid the pastor's property in Malindi, where they found 15 emaciated people, including the four who later died. The followers said they were starving on the pastor's instructions in order to meet Jesus.
Police had been told there were dozens of shallow graves spread across Makenzi's farm and digging started on Friday.
Makenzi has been on hunger strike for the past four days while in police custody.
The pastor has been arrested twice before, in 2019 and in March of this year, in relation to the deaths of children. Each time, he was released on bond, and both cases are still proceeding through the court.
Local politicians have urged the court not to release him this time, decrying the spread of cults in the Malindi area.
Cults are common in Kenya, which has a largely religious society.
Voice of America
Russia's Medvedev Warns Moscow Will Scrap Grain Deal if G7 Bans Exports
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Sunday that if the G-7 moved to ban exports to Russia, Moscow would respond by terminating the Black Sea grain deal that enables vital exports of grain from Ukraine.
The Group of Seven leading industrialized countries are considering a near-total ban on exports to Russia, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported last week, citing Japanese government sources. Russia has repeatedly threatened to scrap its participation in the grain deal, which is due to expire on May 18.
"This idea from the idiots at the G-7 about a total ban of exports to our country by default is beautiful in that it implies a reciprocal ban on imports from our country, including categories of goods that are the most sensitive for the G-7," Medvedev said in a post on his Telegram channel.
"In such a case, the grain deal - and many other things that they need - will end for them," he added.
The G-7 is reportedly discussing reversing its sanctions approach so that exports to Russia are automatically banned unless they are included on a designated list of products allowed to be shipped to the country. Under the current framework, goods are allowed to be sold to Russia unless they are explicitly blacklisted.
Medvedev, a long-time ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, is Putin's deputy chair at the influential Security Council and heads a government commission on arms production for the war in Ukraine.
Moscow has repeatedly rallied against the terms of the Black Sea grain deal -- the only significant diplomatic breakthrough of the 14-month conflict in Ukraine. It has said it will walk away from the initiative ahead of a May 18 deadline if the West does not lift restrictions on Russian agricultural and fertilizer exports.
The G-7 called on Sunday for the "extension, full implementation and expansion" of the deal to export Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea, the group's agriculture ministers said in a communique.
confirmed the posts from the bloggers, but it wasn't immediately possible to independently verify the data they shared.
Russia is also expected to launch more intensive attacks in the spring, but ISW reported that top Russian defense figures are showing signs that they may be pushing for a consolidation of existing gains in Ukraine, rather than costly new operations, as Moscow struggles with both material and manpower.
The ISW cited comments from financier Yevgeniy Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group — a private Russian military company whose fighters have spearheaded the offensive on Bakhmut.
On Saturday, Prigozhin's press service posted comments he made on its official Telegram channel in which he argued that Russian forces need to "anchor (themselves) in such a way that it is only possible to tear them out with (the) opponent's claws."
The interview was published shortly after Western leaders meeting at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany pledged to train more Ukrainian personnel and keep up their military support for Kyiv.
As Moscow seeks to bolster its troop numbers, the U.K. Ministry of Defense noted Sunday in an intelligence briefing that Russian authorities had mounted a large-scale military recruitment campaign using social media, billboards and state television.
It said Russian officials are "almost certainly seeking to delay any new, overt mandatory mobilization for as long as possible to minimize domestic dissent," while assessing that this latest effort would likely fail to meet the defense ministry's stated goal of recruiting 400,000 new volunteers.
In attacks overnight, local authorities in eastern Ukraine reported that Russian forces had launched at least five S-300 missiles at Kharkiv, the country's second-largest city and the surrounding region.
The missiles damaged an industrial facility and private homes but caused no casualties, according to Oleh Syniehubov, the Kharkiv regional governor.
In Kherson, one civilian was killed and two were wounded as Russian troops used artillery, drones and warplanes to launch a total of 54 strikes on the province, Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin said on Telegram on Sunday morning.
Russian forces on Saturday and overnight also dropped five guided aerial bombs over the Kherson region, Ukraine's Operational Command South said in a Facebook post Sunday. According to the post, the bombs were launched from drones and aircraft and damaged multiple residential buildings but caused no casualties.
Also in the Kherson region, two women, ages 85 and 57, were hospitalized after being wounded in a Russian artillery attack that damaged a local school and about 25 residential buildings in the village of Kizomys, Prokudin said in a Telegram post.
In the neighboring Zaporizhzhia region, Russian shelling wounded a 56-year-old man in Stepnohirsk, a town on the banks of the Dnipro river, local Gov. Yurii Malashko wrote on Telegram.
Voice of America
Ukrainian Troop Positions Spark Counteroffensive Speculation
Ukrainian military forces have successfully established positions on the eastern side of the Dnipro River, according to a new analysis, giving rise to speculation Sunday that the advances could be an early sign of Kyiv's long-awaited spring counteroffensive.
The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based research group, reported late Saturday that geolocated footage from pro-Kremlin military bloggers indicated that Ukrainian troops had established a foothold near the town of Oleshky, along with "stable supply lines" to their positions.
Analysts widely believe that if Ukraine goes ahead with a spring counteroffensive, a major goal would be to break through the land corridor between Russia and the annexed Crimean Peninsula, which would necessitate crossing the Dnipro River in the country's south.
Responding to Ukrainian media reports proclaiming that the establishment of such positions indicated the counteroffensive had begun, Natalia Humeniuk, the spokeswoman for Ukraine's Operational Command South, called for patience.
While neither confirming nor denying the ISW report, she said only that details of military operations in the Dnipro delta couldn't be disclosed for operational and security reasons.
Speaking on Ukrainian television, Humeniuk added that it was "very difficult work" when "it's necessary to overcome an obstacle such as the Dnipro, when the front line passes through a wide and powerful river."
The Kremlin-installed head of the Kherson region, one of four parts of Ukraine that Russia said it was illegally annexing in September, denied on Sunday that Ukrainian forces have established a foothold on the east bank of the Dnipro.
In a Telegram update, Vladimir Saldo said that Russian forces are "in full control" of the area, and speculated that the images referenced by the ISW may have depicted Ukrainian sabotage units that "managed to take a selfie" across the Dnipro before being forced back.
After more than a year since the Russian invasion, recent fighting has become a war of attrition, with neither side able to gain momentum.
But Ukraine has recently received sophisticated weapons from its Western allies, and new troops freshly trained in the West, giving rise to growing anticipation of a counteroffensive.
American-made Patriot missiles arrived in Ukraine last week and military spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said Sunday on Ukrainian television that some have already gone into battlefield service.
The United States agreed in October to send the surface-to-air systems, which can target aircraft, cruise missiles and shorter-range ballistic missiles such as those that Russia has used to bombard residential areas and the Ukrainian power grid.
The fiercest battles have been in the eastern Donetsk region, where Russia is struggling to encircle the city of Bakhmut in the face of dogged Ukrainian defense.
On Sunday, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov claimed Moscow's forces had captured two more neighborhoods in the western part of Bakhmut, without providing further details or clarifying what areas were still in Ukrainian hands.
In the south, the Dnipro has for months marked the contact line in the Kherson region, where its namesake capital is regularly pummeled by shelling from Russian forces stationed across the river.
In addition to having established a foothold near the town of Oleshky, across the Dnipro delta from Kherson, the ISW said that Ukrainian troops were also approaching the nearby village of Dachi, citing data from Russian military bloggers.
In Telegram posts on Thursday and Saturday, the ISW said the bloggers claimed that Ukrainian forces had maintained these positions for weeks and established stable supply lines to them, indicating a lack of Russian control over the area.
The Associated Press [...]
Voice of America
Americans Left in Sudan Must Shelter in Place Until Further Notice
As more countries safely evacuate their diplomats from Sudan, U.S. citizens who are still stranded in the conflict-ridden African nation are being asked to continue sheltering in place and monitor U.S. official communications. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias takes a look at the options being considered to provide support to those left behind amid ongoing fighting between Sudan’s armed forces and a paramilitary group.
Voice of America
Taliban Reject Leaked US Assessment IS Using Afghanistan as Terror Base
Afghanistan's Taliban have pushed back against a leaked American military assessment claiming the Islamic State is using the country to plan and coordinate international terrorist attacks against the United States and its allies.
The secret document has reportedly portrayed the threat as a growing security concern. It noted that Afghan soil had become a base for the regional affiliate of the terrorist outfit, known as Islamic State-Khorasan or IS-K to conduct "aspirational plotting" against U.S. and European targets.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid on Sunday refuted the assessment, calling it “fake" and part of an "ongoing propaganda campaign" against their governmen
An official statement quoted Mujahid as saying the Taliban government "has full control" over Afghanistan and does not allow anyone to use its soil for attacks against other countries. He said that IS-K and other terrorist groups in in the country "have been severely affected and are in the process of being destroyed."
Mujahid added that the Taliban had brought security to Afghanistan since regaining control of the country in August 2021, citing peaceful celebrations of the three-day, nationwide, annual Eid festival, which ended Sunday.
"It is obvious that the spread of such biased reports shows that some people in America have not forgotten their hatred and enmity with the people of Afghanistan,” he said. The Washington Post reported the Afghanistan-related U.S. intelligence findings, saying they are part of a trove posted to the social media platform Discord and obtained by the newspaper.
"ISIS has been developing a cost-effective model for external operations that relies on resources from outside Afghanistan, operatives in target countries, and extensive facilitation networks," the newspaper reported, citing the top-secret Pentagon secret assessment.
"The model will likely enable ISIS to overcome obstacles — such as competent security services — and reduce some plot timelines, minimizing disruption opportunities," The Post reported, citing the assessment, which used an acronym for IS-K.
The leaked document reportedly detailed specific efforts to target embassies, churches, business centers and the FIFA World Cup soccer tournament, which drew more than 2 million spectators last November in Qatar.
The U.S. military assessment raised the number of Islamic State plots coordinated in Afghanistan from nine to 15.
The Taliban reclaimed control of the country in August 2021 from the then-internationally backed government in Kabul as the U.S. and NATO troops chaotically withdrew after nearly two decades of involvement in the Afghan war.
U.S. officials have not verified the authenticity of the leaked documents, but the IS-K threat from Afghanistan has been a concern for the military.
Gen. Michael Kurilla, head of U.S. Central Command, warned last month that IS-K had strengthened under the Taliban's rule.
"They can do external operations against U.S. or Western interests abroad in under six months with little to no warning," Kurilla told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The United States' longest-running war ended in August 2021, when President Joe Biden withdrew the last U.S. troops from Afghanistan after two decades of conflict and the loss of 2,400 American forces. The withdrawal was marred by tragedy when an IS-K suicide bomber killed scores of Afghans and 13 U.S. soldiers at the airport in Kabul.
U.S. senators said Wednesday the leak of top-secret military intelligence records by a 21-year-old U.S. Air National Guard member should prompt a serious reevaluation of security procedures in the United States.
The suspect, Jack Teixeira, was arrested April 13 by FBI agents at his mother's residence in Dighton, Massachusetts. He faces criminal charges for allegedly leaking those documents to a group of friends on the gamer website. His scheduled detention hearing was delayed by two weeks.