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How to stop Putin getting away with murder in Ukraine

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:00:45 GMT

Jamie Dettmer is opinion editor at POLITICO Europe. KYIV — “Murder, torture, illegal detentions and the persecution of people based on their ethnicity,” intoned Gyunduz Mamedov.He was listing the investigations he oversaw into Russia’s atrocities from 2016 to 2021, when working as a Ukrainian prosecutor, initially focused on Crimea after Moscow’s annexation and, subsequently, on the Donbas. And the dismal litany of the inhumanity could easily continue for many more paragraphs.Mamedov, a 48-year-old Azerbaijani-born Ukrainian lawyer, and his war-crimes team opened 30,000 criminal cases against Russians before he stepped down as the country’s deputy prosecutor general, when his department was abruptly handed over.Mamedov is silent when asked whether this was punishment for his participation in an audacious sting operation to entrap mercenaries of the paramilitary Wagner group — a secret operation that Andriy Yermak, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s top aide, had frowned upon and d...

Latest Ukraine satellite images reveal devastation of Russian invasion

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:00:45 GMT

OPTICSLatest Ukraine satellite images reveal devastation of Russian invasionThe consequences of war, seen from the sky.Images via Google Earth and Maxar. Above, streets in Mariupol.At the end of April, Google partially updated its map of Ukraine. Even though the latest images probably date from March 2022, the scale of destruction in the first weeks of Russia’s invasion is clear.The latest map lays bare the aftermath of the historic battles for Kyiv, and shows the destroyed iconic cargo plane Mriya at Hostomel Airport. It also shows a bridge in Irpin and a dam in Kozarovychi Village that Ukrainian forces had to blow up to stop the Russian offensive on Kyiv last year. Satellite cameras have also captured Bakhmut fields peppered with shell holes and people standing in line for humanitarian aid in the doomed port city of Mariupol.   POLITICO gathered satellite pictures from nine locations in Ukraine to show what they looked like before and after Russia invaded.Hostomel ...

Reality of war rains on Russia’s Victory Day parade

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:00:45 GMT

Moscow took 12 hours to respond after an explosion lit up the dome of the Kremlin complex last Wednesday.According to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, the security services needed time to investigate the incident. But the Kremlin’s spin doctors worked extra hours too, no doubt. On the eve of Victory Day — which traditionally celebrates the Soviet triumph over Nazi Germany, but which has become emblematic of Russia’s current war against Ukraine — the Kremlin’s line at home is that the country is battling an enemy as powerful as it is evil. That narrative is meant to account for the absence of success on the battlefront after 14 months of fighting, while offering Russians a sense of security that for them life will continue as usual.But a series of mysterious incidents  — including Wednesday’s early-morning blast — is revealing cracks in Russia’s facade of strength. The cancellation of some of the Vic...

All hail Queen Ursula!

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:00:45 GMT

Move over, King Charles III.The European Union is getting ready to crown its own monarch: Ursula von der Leyen. But there’s nothing symbolic about the power she wields.As president of the bloc’s executive arm, von der Leyen is due to serve until 2024, when the EU will elect a new European Parliament. The vote is meant to help determine, at least in theory, who gets to succeed her in the powerful role.But with the election more than a year away, stars are already aligning around a second term for von der Leyen — who has yet to confirm she’s even interested in continuing the job. The center-right European People’s Party, which controls the largest faction in the European Parliament, has thrown its weight behind the German politician, as have Germany’s conservative parties. Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s ruling coalition in Berlin is sending positive signals. And while French President Emmanuel Macron has yet to say publicly whether he backs von der Leyen for a second t...

Investigation underway after at least 2 people shot in Mattapan

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:00:45 GMT

Boston police are investigating a shooting that sent at least two people to the hospital on Sunday night.Officers responding to a reported shooting on Wildwood Street found two victims, one of whom was suffering from life-threatening injuries, according to Boston police.No additional information was immediately available.This is a developing news story; stay with 7NEWS on-air and online for the latest details.

Not live, MTV Movie & TV Awards rely on plenty of old clips

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:00:45 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A host-less, pre-taped and muted MTV Movie & TV Awards on Sunday became the first big awards show to air during the screenwriters’ strike, offering a commercial-heavy broadcast featuring lots of past recycled live clips.“Scream VI” won the trophy for best movie, holding back competition from “Avatar: The Way of Water,” “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” “Elvis,” “Nope,” “Smile” and “Top Gun: Maverick.” In a pre-taped response, the killer Ghostface was humble: “To all the fans that voted, you finally answered my question: What’s your favorite scary movie?”“The Last of Us” was crowned best TV show, beating the likes of “Stranger Things,” “The White Lotus,” “Wednesday” and “Yellowjackets.” Pedro Pascal accepted the award and said he and the cast and creators were standing in solidarity with the striking writers.Tom Cruise took home the best performance in a movie for “Top Gun: Maverick,” beating Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Michael B. Jordan and Keke Palmer. I...

Conervatives prevail in key vote for new Chile constitution

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:00:45 GMT

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — A far-right party led in the vote count Sunday night after Chileans cast ballots for a 50-member commission that is to draft a new coonstitution after voters overwhelmingly rejected a proposed charter last year that was considered one of the world’s most progressive.It was a major defeat for Chile’s center-left president, Gabriel Boric, with the vote also widely viewed as a referendum on his government, which currently has an approval rating of around 30%.With 91% of polling stations reporting, the Republican Party, led by far-right José Antonio Kast, who lost the presidential runoff to Boric in 2021, led with 35% of the vote. The Republican Party has long opposed changing the constitution that was imposed by the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.A coalition of left-leaning parties allied with Boric, Unity for Chile was in second place with 28% of the vote. A center-right alliance, Safe Chile, was in third with 21%. Null or blank votes made up 21% of the t...

Boat capsizes in southern India, at least 20 people dead

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:00:45 GMT

NEW DELHI (AP) — Twenty people, including women and children, died after a boat carrying more than 30 passengers capsized on Sunday night near a beach in India’s southern state of Kerala, local media reported. “The boat is being hauled ashore and more bodies are expected to be recovered from inside,” Sports Minister V Abdurahiman told the Press Trust of India news agency, adding that four people in critical condition were admitted to a hospital. Rescuers had reached Tanur, a coastal town in the state’s Malappuram district, where the capsizing occurred near Thoovaltheeram beach. It’s not clear what caused the boat to overturn.The Associated Press

Former Liberal cabinet minister Marc Lalonde has died at age 93

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:00:45 GMT

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has confirmed that former federal Liberal minister Marc Lalonde has died at age 93.Lalonde was the principal secretary to former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau from 1968 to 1972.Trudeau said in a tweet on Sunday evening that Lalonde “was brilliant” and that his death represents an “enormous loss” to Canada.Trudeau says Lalonde “ultimately transformed the way we thought about health and, in doing so, he no doubt changed — and saved — countless lives.”The Canadian Museum of History says Lalonde interrupted a legal and academic career to serve as a special legal adviser to former prime minister John Diefenbaker’s minister of justice, E. Davie Fulton, from 1959 to 1960.The museum says Lalonde also became a special adviser to former prime minister Lester Pearson in 1967 and successfully ran for Parliament in 1972, serving as minister of national health and welfare from 1972 to 1977.

Fire in gold mine kills at least 27, Peruvian officials say

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:00:45 GMT

LIMA, Peru (AP) — A fire broke out deep in a gold mine in southern Peru and killed at least 27 workers during an overnight shift, Peruvian authorities reported.The Yanaquihua mining company said in a statement that a total of 175 workers had been safely evacuated after the accident, which happened late Friday or early Saturday. It said the 27 dead worked for a contractor that specializes in mining.Government officials said the cause of the incident was under investigation. Some news reports said preliminary investigations indicated an explosion might have been set off by a short circuit in a part of the mine about 100 meters (330 feet) below the surface.Relatives of the victims were brought by buses to the mine in Yanaquihua in the Arequipa region, where they were briefed by security agents. Some sat in front of posters at the entrance to the mine to wait for the bodies of their loved ones.Marcelina Aguirre said her husband was among the dead. She said he had told her there were ris...