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About 200 troops have been deployed by the Canadian Armed Forces to help fight wildfires burning across Alberta, and 100 more will be joining the battle to tame the flames over the weekend, the province's public safety minister said Thursday.

"Units will deploy to the Grande Prairie, Fox Creek and Drayton Valley areas soon, so Albertans will see movement on roads and in the air," Mike Ellis, minister of public safety and emergency services, said in wildfire update news conference.

More than 6,500 applications have been received for emergency financial assistance, with $2 million in email transfers sent to evacuees and $77,000 in debit cards distributed. The number of evacuees is now 16,470, down from a high of about 31,000 at the peak of the emergency.

The soldiers are being deployed as communities across the province brace for the danger to escalate. After a few days of relative calm, the return of hot, dry weather this weekend threatens to make conditions more volatile.

As of Thursday afternoon, 82 wildfires continue to burn in forest protection areas, 23 of them out of control. Seven other fires are burning outside those areas.

Troops from 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry and 1 Combat Engineer Regiment are setting up bases of operations in Grande Prairie County and Drayton Valley, the provincial government said Thursday.

WATCH | Some Albertans say election campaign is distracting leaders from wildfires:

Army reserve soldiers from across Alberta are also deploying this week.

Troops will support firefighting efforts, aid with community evacuations and lend engineering support through the use of heavy equipment, Premier Danielle Smith told a news conference Thursday.

"Because the risk remains elevated, particularly in a few key communities ... the Canadian Armed Forces have begun to move out support Alberta while we're fighting these unprecedented fires," Smith said.

Alberta declared a state of emergency on Saturday as fast-moving wildfires ignited across the province and evacuation orders spread.

To date this year, 421 wildfires in Alberta have burned 410,000 hectares - about double the average area burned in an entire season.

Hoping for the weather to hold

Indigenous communities have been among the hardest hit, and nine First Nations in Alberta remain under threat.

In Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation, 45 structures, including homes and the community's elder centre, have been destroyed. Around 1,600 people from the community have been evacuated to nearby Grande Prairie and Valleyview, and also to Edmonton.

At least 14 homes were lost in the East Prairie Métis Settlement, around 165 kilometres east of Grande Prairie, when a fire ripped through the community last week, forcing 300 people to flee.

The Paskwa fire at Fox Lake, 150 kilometres east of High Level, is among the fires currently defying suppression efforts.

Since it was detected on May 2, the fire has burned more than 24,000 hectares, consuming more than 100 structures in the remote northern community of Fox Lake.

But some relief for the remote northern community, one of nine First Nations communities in Alberta under threat. On Wednesday, amid favourable winds, the flames began to retreat.

Conroy Sewepagaham, chief of the Little Red River Cree Nation, said he remains hopeful that if the weather holds, his community will be spared further damage.

"The fire is no longer a big threat to the community," Sewepagaham said in a video posted to Facebook. "That's one good thing."

Firefighters are working to douse hot spots but the forecast is not encouraging, Sewepagaham said.

"The next coming days for our local climate, temperature-wise, is not going to be really good for us on the ground, so we might see some growth on that fire that is moving away from the community."

Little Red River Cree Nation is made up of three communities - Fox Lake, Garden River and John D'Or Prairie. Indigenous Services Canada is helping set up temporary housing in John D'Or Prairie for 500 people, including a commercial kitchen and other amenities.

Sewepagaham said fire breaks are being established, and night watchmen have been stationed throughout the valley of the Peace River to sound the alarm if flames take a dangerous turn.

He said it's unclear when residents can safely return home.

Across Alberta, around 18,000 people remain displaced. And while thousands wait for the threat to pass, some residents are being allowed to return home.

In Yellowhead County, west of Edmonton, evacuation orders were lifted on Thursday morning for the communities of Wildwood, Hansonville and Lobstick Resort.

County Mayor Wade Williams said he supports the re-entry plan but with firefighting resources stretched thin, he's concerned about the possibility of another evacuation.

One fire is burning less than two kilometres from Wildwood, Williams said.

"If people choose to stay and things go sideways, we may not be able to get back in there to protect them," Williams told evacuees during a town hall Wednesday.

The fire near Wildwood, still out of control, now covers an estimated7,254 hectares. Another fire nearby is burning on both sides of Highway 22, north of Highway 16. It has now destroyed 2,400 hectares and continues to burn out of control.

"We need to live with the fires, they're here, we don't want to keep you away," Luc Mercier, chief administration officer for Yellowhead County, said Wednesday.

"We are balancing your right to your property, to the extent that we can, with our responsibility as a municipality in a state of local emergency to protect your safety."

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300 troops being deployed to fight Alberta wildfires, more than $2M paid out to evacuees | CBC News

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About 200 troops have been deployed by the Canadian Armed Forces to help fight wildfires burning across Alberta, and 100 more will be joining the battle to tame the flames over the weekend, the province's public safety minister said Thursday.

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A pillar of smoke rises from Omdurman, Sudan, as fighting continues on May 11 [Video still obtained by Reuters]

Sudan's warring factions have committed to protecting civilians as well as ensuring the movement of humanitarian aid, according to United States officials, but a ceasefire remains elusive.

After a week of talks in the Saudi Arabian port of Jeddah, Sudan's army and rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) signed a declaration on Friday that they would work towards a short-term ceasefire in further talks, US sources told the Reuters news agency.

"The two sides are quite far apart," a senior US State Department official explained, speaking on condition of anonymity. Negotiators working with Saudi and US mediators set a goal of reaching a ceasefire deal in up to 10 days, the official said.

Clashes rocked Halfaya, an entry point to the Sudanese capital Khartoum, on Thursday. Residents reported hearing warplanes circle over Khartoum as well as Khartoum North and the adjoining city of Omdurman, but the fighting appeared calmer than on Wednesday.

In public, neither side has shown it is ready to offer concessions to end the conflict that erupted suddenly last month. The fighting has threatened to pitch Sudan into a civil war, killing hundreds of people and triggering a humanitarian crisis.

Previous ceasefire agreements have been repeatedly violated, leaving civilians to navigate a terrifying landscape of chaos and bombardment with failing power and water, little food and a collapsing health system.

The senior US State Department official said the declaration signed early on Friday seeks to improve the flow of humanitarian relief and begin the restoration of water and electricity services.

Mediators hope it will be possible "to arrange for the withdrawal of security forces from hospitals and clinics and to perform the respectful burial of the dead", the official said.

The World Health Organization said more than 600 people have been killed and more than 5,000 injured in the fighting. Sudan's Health Ministry said at least 450 people were killed in the western Darfur region.

Many have fled Khartoum and Darfur, leading to 700,000 people being internally displaced and 150,000 refugees entering neighbouring states, according to United Nations figures.

Cameron Hudson of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington said implementing any deal would be challenging.

"They are locked in this fight to the finish, and they will sign a piece of paper and Washington will celebrate a big victory, but I don't think it will change the dynamics of the conflict," Hudson said.

Western countries condemned abuses by both sides at a human rights meeting in Geneva, but Sudan's envoy there said the conflict was "an internal affair".

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Rival factions in Sudan agree to protect civilians: US official

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Sudan's warring factions have committed to protecting civilians as well as ensuring the movement of humanitarian aid, according to United States officials, but a ceasefire remains elusive. After a week of talks in the Saudi Arabian port of Jeddah, Sudan's army and rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) signed a declaration on Friday that they would work towards a short-term ceasefire in further talks, US sources told the Reuters news agency.

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The Conservative chair of the foreign affairs select committee has launched a blistering attack on Liz Truss over the former prime minister's planned trip to Taiwan, calling it "the worst kind of Instagram diplomacy".

Alicia Kearns said she thought Truss's trip planned for next week was little more than a vanity project aimed at keeping her profile high after her brief spell as prime minister last year.

Truss is planning to travel to show "solidarity" with the Taiwanese people amid aggression from Beijing. Taiwan is a self-governing democracy, but Beijing regards it as a renegade province which must be reunited with the mainland.

Truss's trip has the potential to upset the British government's carefully balanced approach to Chinese relations, with the foreign secretary, James Cleverly, arguing the UK should not "pull the shutters down on China".

Kearns said: "The trip is performative, not substantive. It is the worst kind of example of Instagram diplomacy."

She added that the trip was likely to make life harder for the Taiwanese people, who already have to live with a higher level of Chinese military action on their doorstep after the visit by Nancy Pelosi, then the speaker of the US House of Representatives.

Beijing responded to that visit by dispatching warships and military jets to surround the island and firing missiles over it.

"It is deeply unhelpful because it escalates the normal situation in Taiwan," Kearns said. "Taiwanese people already have to live with more Chinese military manoeuvres because of Nancy Pelosi's visit. Liz Truss doesn't have any influence any more - this is more about keeping herself relevant."

A spokesperson for Truss hit back saying: "The former prime minister has been invited to visit by the Taiwan government. They are better placed to know what is in the interests of the Taiwanese people than the MP for Rutland.

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"The future of Taiwan as a free democracy is at stake. Alicia Kearns should apologise for misusing her position as a select committee chair to engage in petty political attacks."

Truss announced on Tuesday she planned to visit the island, calling it a "beacon of freedom and democracy".

The trip follows one to Washington last month, where she gave the annual Margaret Thatcher freedom lecture to the conservative thinktank the Heritage Foundation. She used that speech to attack "wokeism" and argue that her downfall had been the result of a conspiracy by vested interests within the government.

The government has not commented except to say that it would not get involved in the "independent travel decisions of a private citizen who is not a member of the government".

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Liz Truss's plan to visit Taiwan called 'worst kind of Instagram diplomacy'

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The Conservative chair of the foreign affairs select committee has launched a blistering attack on Liz Truss over the former prime minister's planned trip to Taiwan, calling it "the worst kind of Instagram diplomacy".

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Online pharmacies operating in the UK are approving and dispatching prescriptions of controversial slimming jabs for people of a healthy weight, a Guardian investigation has found.

Some pharmacies appear to be issuing prescriptions of such medications to people who lie about their body mass index (BMI) on an online form. In one case a reporter was issued a prescription after accurately saying their BMI wasabout 20. A healthy BMI lies between 18.5 and 24.9.

The findings have raised alarm among eating disorder charities, which have warned that weight-loss medications should only be sold under the strictest conditions. Their concern has prompted calls for online pharmacies to employ stronger health checks and screening for eating disorders.

Drugs originally developed for diabetes have recently been hailed as "gamechangers" after they were found to help people reduce their weight by more than 10%, making them a potential alternative to stomach surgery. While available to some people on the NHS, they can also be bought on prescription through online pharmacies.

However, the medications, which are administered by injection, are controversial because they can cause side-effects such as nausea and fatigue, and it is thought weight loss will reverse when the drugs are stopped.

Saxenda, a brand of the drug liraglutide,has been approved for use in the UK for certain groups of people with obesity - meaning a BMI of 30 or greater - or who are overweight with a BMI of 27 to 30 and have weight-related health problems.

Ozempic, a brand of a similar drug called semaglutide, is licensed for diabetes but is increasingly being prescribed "off-label" for weight loss by online pharmacies. While legal, "off label" prescribing is done at the discretion of the prescriber.

To investigate the availability of the slimming jabs, the Guardian approached a selection of online pharmacies from the top search results returned by Google.

On two occasions an online consultation for Ozempic - accurately filled in by a 1.7-metre (5ft 7in) female reporter weighing 57kg (9 stone), resulting in a BMI of about 20 - was immediately approved and dispatched by the online pharmacy Daily Chemist.

This is despite the form stating the drug should be discontinued once a patient's BMI fell below 27. The medication arrived by post within days.

A number of other online-only pharmacies contacted, including Click2Pharmacy, Pharmacy2U and Simple Online Pharmacy, refused a prescription to the same reporter based on her BMI, as did the online websites of the high street chemists Lloyds and Superdrug.

Daily Chemist did not respond to a request for comment.

The investigation also found that other online pharmacies have authorised prescriptions and sent medication to individuals who deliberately submitted incorrect information in order to get slimming jabs.

Jenny*, who has a history of disordered eating, meaning she has irregular eating behaviours, said she had sought out the jabs after gaining 4.5kg to 6.4kg after an operation.

"I definitely am not in the weight category to qualify for any kind of weight-loss drug really. But I decided I really wanted the quick fix," she said. "I could afford it."

Searching online, Jenny found a huge range of online chemists and that to obtain a prescription for Saxenda it was only necessary to answer a few simple questions. "One of them is: 'What's your weight?' So I just added two and a half stone to my weight, kept my height the same, my age [and] everything else the same," she said.

To proceed with the order, applicants must allow the company, Chemist4U, the option to contact the patient's GP and see their summary care record. As a teenager, Jenny had an eating disorder that was discussed with her family doctor but is not known whether her GP was contacted after she filled out the form for Saxenda. Despite this, the prescription arrived in the post within a couple of days.

Sasha* said she sought out Ozempic online in order to lose 6kg to 7kg of weight to reduce her BMI to the lower end of the "healthy" window and cut her risk of diabetes - a disease that was common in her family.

Like Jenny, she submitted an incorrect weight to obtain a prescription from the Mayfair Weight Loss Clinic. "I had to boost my weight to make me up to 30 BMI on this online weight loss clinic to get it," Sasha said. Mayfair Weight Loss Clinic did not respond to a request for comment.

In 2019 new safeguards were introduced by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), the independent regulator for pharmacists and pharmacies, to protect people from the risks of buying inappropriate drugs through online providers.

In guidance for pharmacies acting at a distance, including online, the GPhC says: "Some categories of medicines are not suitable to be supplied online unless further safeguards have been put in place to make sure that they are clinically appropriate - these include medicines liable to abuse, overuse or misuse or when there is a risk of addiction and ongoing monitoring."

The GPhC confirmed this category included medicines used as weight loss treatments.

The guidance goes on to say medicines in this category should not be prescribed unless the pharmacy has been assured "that the prescriber has contacted the GP in advance of issuing a prescription, and that the GP has confirmed to the prescriber that the prescription is appropriate for the patient and that appropriate monitoring is in place".

Tom Quinn of the eating disorder charity Beat expressed concern at the findings. "The fact that weight loss injections are apparently available online without stringent health checks in place is very alarming," he said.

"It can feel incredibly tempting to order weight loss injections like Ozempic as they seem to promise fast results, but these medications can be extremely dangerous for those with eating disorders."

Quinn said rapid weight loss could contribute to eating disorders developing for the first time in vulnerable people. "You can never tell if somebody has an eating disorder based on their BMI, and it's crucial that thorough health checks and eating disorder screenings are in place to ensure that nobody unwell with an eating disorder is able to access weight loss medications," he said.

The Guardian passed its findings to the GPhC. The regulator's director of insight, intelligence and inspection,, Claire Bryce-Smith, said: "We take all concerns that are raised with us very seriously and part of our role is to inspect pharmacies to ensure they are meeting the standards we have set to protect patient safety.

"We have recently taken action to stop a small number of online pharmacies supplying medicines being used for weight loss to potentially vulnerable people. We've also reminded all online pharmacies that they need to follow our standards and guidance at all times.

"These include the requirement for pharmacies to ensure they have all the relevant patient information before making a prescription and carrying out a risk assessment to consider the person's wellbeing, particularly as eating disorders, body dysmorphia and mental health issues can play a part in the reason for requesting these medicines."

Bryce-Smith said pharmacies should verify the accuracy of the information patients provided them, for example through the use of video consultations. She added that those accessing healthcare services should also always provide truthful and accurate information about their health and medical history.
* Names have been changed.

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Online UK pharmacies prescribing weight loss jabs to people with healthy BMI

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Online pharmacies operating in the UK are approving and dispatching prescriptions of controversial slimming jabs for people of a healthy weight, a Guardian investigation has found. Some pharmacies appear to be issuing prescriptions of such medications to people who lie about their body mass index (BMI) on an online form.

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Donald Trump addressed Republican and undeclared voters at a CNN town hall in New Hampshire on Wednesday night, just one day after a New York jury found him liable for sexual abuse and defamation.

The former president faced questions from moderator Kaitlan Collins and voters about everything from the debt ceiling to abortion access and the war in Ukraine.

The town hall turned combative as soon as it began, with Trump repeating his lies about the 2020 election as Collins repeatedly interjected to remind viewers that the former president has never presented any evidence substantiating his claims of widespread fraud.

Pressed by Collins on whether he would acknowledge Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 election, Trump refused to do so.

"Most people understand what happened was a rigged election," Trump said. "And it's a shame that we had to go through it. It's very bad for our country."

The former president and current frontrunner in the 2024 Republican primary was also pressed on his wide array of legal liabilities as he seeks to return to the White House.

On Tuesday, a New York jury concluded that Trump had sexually abused the advice columnist E Jean Carroll 27 years earlier, ordering the former president to pay her $5m in damages for her battery and defamation claims.

During the CNN town hall, Trump repeatedly attacked Carroll and raised baseless doubts about the objectivity of the judge who oversaw the case. Trump was cheered on by a friendly crowd, who laughed when Collins noted that the former president had been found liable for sexual abuse.

The verdict in Carroll's case came a month after Trump pleaded not guilty to 34 felony charges of falsifying business records in connection to a hush-money scheme during the 2016 election, and the former president also faces potential criminal charges in Georgia and Washington.

Trump has made clear that he intends to continue his presidential campaign as he fends off these legal threats, and he remains the frontrunner in polls of the Republican primary field.

A number of commentators had criticized CNN for agreeing to host the town hall in light of Trump's ongoing efforts to spread baseless lies about widespread fraud in the 2020 election. Those critics cited the contentious beginning of the town hall as confirmation of the network's poor judgement in moving forward with the event.

"CNN should be ashamed of themselves," progressive congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said on Twitter. "They have lost total control of this 'town hall' to again be manipulated into platforming election disinformation, defenses of Jan 6th, and a public attack on a sexual abuse victim. The audience is cheering him on and laughing at the host."

But CNN defended its decision to host the town hall, arguing voters deserved the opportunity to hear from the current frontrunner in the Republican presidential primary.

"Our job, despite his unique circumstances, is to do what we do best," a CNN spokesperson said in a statement on Wednesday morning. "Ask tough questions, follow up and hold him accountable to give voters the information they need to sort through their choices. That is our role and our responsibility."

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Donald Trump fields voter questions at CNN town hall a day after sexual abuse verdict

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Donald Trump addressed Republican and undeclared voters at a CNN town hall in New Hampshire on Wednesday night, just one day after a New York jury found him liable for sexual abuse and defamation. The former president faced questions from moderator Kaitlan Collins and voters about everything from the debt ceiling to abortion access and the war in Ukraine.

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Israeli air strike kills militant commander in Gaza

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A pre-dawn air strike kills a top Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander and one other person.

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Russian forces in Bakhmut pushed back by up to 2km in some areas, claims Ukraine military commander
A Ukrainian military commander has said that Russian forces in Bakhmut had been pushed back by up to 2km in some areas, after counteroffensives.

Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, who heads Ukraine's ground forces, made the comments in a post on Telegram.

It comes as Ukrainian forces claim to have routed a brigade of thousands of Russian troops in Bakhmut.

He said: "In some areas of the front, the enemy could not resist the onslaught of the Ukrainian defenders and retreated to a distance of up to two kilometers.

"It was the competent conduct of the defensive operation that exhausted the trained forces of the 'Wagner' PvC and forced them to be replaced in certain directions by less well-prepared units of the Russian regular troops, which were defeated and left."

As the time is approaching 9pm in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, here is a roundup of today's news.

A Ukrainian military commander has said that Russian forces in Bakhmut had been pushed back by up to 2km in some areas, after counteroffensives. Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, who heads Ukraine's ground forces, made the comments in a post on Telegram. He said: "In some areas of the front, the enemy could not resist the onslaught of the Ukrainian defenders and retreated to a distance of up to two kilometers."

Russia's oil pipeline operator Transneft said that a filling point on the Europe-bound Druzhba pipeline in a border area between Russia and Ukraine had been targeted in a "terrorist" attack, according to the Tass news agency. Transneft said nobody was injured in the incident, which it called a "terrorist attack", according to Reuters.

It comes as Ukraine's military said its forces have seriously damaged Russia's 72nd independent motorised rifle brigade near Bakhmut, made up of thousands of troops. Serhiy Cherevatyi, a spokesperson for Ukrainian troops in the east, said the situation remained "difficult" in Bakhmut but Moscow was increasingly forced to use regular army units because of heavy losses among the Wagner private army group.

The Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose Wagner group is fighting in Bakhmut, said on Tuesday that the brigade had abandoned its positions. Russia has not commented.

Prigozhin has complained that his fighters were still not getting enough shells from the official defence ministry. In an audio statement, he said the defence ministry - which has promised to ensure all combat units have the resources they need - had been holding long meetings on the shell issue but there had been no breakthrough. "We're not receiving enough shells, we're only getting 10%," Prigozhin said, reported Reuters.

The French parliament has called on the EU to formally label the Wagner group terrorists. France's parliament unanimously passed a non-binding resolution aimed at encouraging the 27 members of the EU to put Wagner on its official list of terrorist organisations.

Britain is also set to formally blacklist Wagner as a terrorist organi sation to increase pressure on Russia, the Times reported on Tuesday. After two months of building a legal case, proscription or a formal blacklisting of the group was "imminent" and likely to be enacted within weeks, the newspaper reported, citing a government source.

Russian forces are planning to "evacuate" more than 3,000 workers from the town that serves the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, resulting in a "catastrophic lack" of personnel, Ukraine's state-owned Energoatom company claimed on Wednesday. Energoatom said it had received information about preparations for the evacuation of about 3,100 people from the southern city of Enerhodar, including 2,700 workers who had signed contracts with the Russian-installed company. Ukraine has repeatedly criticised Russia for forcibly deporting its citizens from occupied Ukrainian regions into Russian Federation territory.

However, Ukraine has said that Russia is now blocking the exit of the thousands it had organised to leave Enerhodar.

Former German chancellor Gerhard Schr öder has been criticised again for his links to Russia after attending a Victory Day party at the Russian embassy in Berlin. Schr öder was seen at the reception on Tuesday marking the defeat of Nazi Germany in the second world war, along with senior figures from the far-right Alternative for Germany party and the far-left Linke party.

Russia may formally "denounce" the treaty on conventional armed forces in Europe that it pulled out of in 2015, according to a decree signed by President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday. The decree formally appoints the deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, to represent Putin during parliamentary proceedings on denouncing the treaty, which aimed to regulate the number of forces deployed by Warsaw Pact and Nato countries. Russia announced in 2015 that it was completely halting its participation in the treaty, having already suspended cooperation in 2007. Russia argues that the treaty, which was intended to balance conventional forces towards the end of the cold war, was de facto in breach because former Soviet republics such as Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and Warsaw Pact nations such as Bulgaria, had become members of Nato by the early 2000s.

The governor of Russia's Voronezh region said on Wednesday that two drones attempted to attack a military facility in his region, but failed.

Tass reports that the Russian Federation security service, the FSB, has claimed to have prevented an assassination attempt on a police chief in the occupied Zaporizhzhia region.

The secretary general of Nato, Jens Stoltenberg, has spoken in Brussels at a meeting of Nato's military committee. He said the alliance needs to "redouble our efforts" in order to provide security to the 1 billion people in Nato countries, citing what he claimed was a range of rising threats.

More news on the killing of Arman Soldin on Tuesday.

French judges have launched a war crimes investigation into the journalist's death in Ukraine, anti-terror prosecutors said Wednesday.

Soldin, 32, died when he and his Agence France-Presse colleagues came under fire by Grad rockets on Tuesday while they were with Ukrainian troops near Chasiv Yar, in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.

The French inquiry will be handled by the OCLCH, an investigating unit specialising in crimes against humanity and hate crimes, and will seek to determine the exact circumstances of Soldin's death, the prosecutors said, according to AFP.

Soldin's death brings to at least 11 the number of journalists, fixers or drivers for media teams killed since Russia invaded Ukraine more than a year ago, according to advocacy groups.

Russian shelling has killed a woman in Kherson oblast's Kakhovskyi district on the Dnipro river, the Ukrainian prosecutor general's office reported on Wednesday.

Russian forces reportedly shelled the district at about 5pm. The attack also damaged residential buildings and farms in the area.

An investigation is under way and the prosecutor general's office said that a war crimes inquiry had been launched.

The UN's special rapporteur on torture has called on Russia to provide jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny with "urgent and comprehensive" medical care following reports that his health is deteriorating.

Navalny's supporters have said he was suffering from significant stomach pain in jail, which they said could be a sign of some sort of slow-acting poison.

"I am distressed by the deteriorating state of Navalny's health and the apparent lack of satisfactory diagnosis and medical treatment," Alice Edwards said in a statement.

Russia's penitentiary service has previously denied allegations that its employees have mistreated Navalny and has said he has always been granted medical treatment when needed.

Navalny voluntarily returned to Russia in 2021 from Germany, where he had been treated for what western laboratory tests showed was an attempt to poison him with a nerve agent in Siberia in 2020.

"He must immediately and continuously be provided with adequate care, including comprehensive medical check-ups, treatment and monitoring of his health situation in a civil hospital," Edwards said.

Navalny, 46, is serving combined sentences of 11 and a half years for fraud and contempt of court on charges he says were trumped up to silence him.

Former German chancellor Gerhard Schr öder is in trouble again for his links to Russia after attending a victory day party at the Russian embassy in Berlin.

Schr öder, who has previously been criticised for his links to Russia, was seen at the reception on Tuesday marking the defeat of Nazi Germany in the second world war, along with senior figures from the far-right Alternative for Germany party and the far-left Linke party.

The two parties have been critical of the sanctions imposed on Moscow in response to its invasion of Ukraine.

The former Social Democrat chancellor is seen at the event in a photo published by the German daily Bild. Schroeder has not yet commented on his presence at the reception.

Schröder, who held a number of positions in Russian energy companies, has seen many of the privileges normally given to ex-chancellors taken away for his ties to the Kremlin.

Schröder no longer has a publicly funded private office, but members of current chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats have so far failed to expel his predecessor from the party.

"I find it incomprehensible," senior Social Democrat MP Katja Mast said in response to Schröder's attendance.

"Gerhard Schröder's behaviour can hardly be surpassed in its tastelessness," said senior conservative (CDU) politician Thorsten Frei.

"On the day the former chancellor was entertained by Russian diplomats, innocent people in Ukraine died as a result of the Russian war of aggression," Frei said.

Scholz's spokesperson declined to comment on the reception at a regular press conference Wednesday.

Also seen at the embassy party was the former East German leader Egon Krenz.

Russian forces in Bakhmut pushed back by up to 2km in some areas, claims Ukraine military commander
A Ukrainian military commander has said that Russian forces in Bakhmut had been pushed back by up to 2km in some areas, after counteroffensives.

Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, who heads Ukraine's ground forces, made the comments in a post on Telegram.

It comes as Ukrainian forces claim to have routed a brigade of thousands of Russian troops in Bakhmut.

He said: "In some areas of the front, the enemy could not resist the onslaught of the Ukrainian defenders and retreated to a distance of up to two kilometers.

"It was the competent conduct of the defensive operation that exhausted the trained forces of the 'Wagner' PvC and forced them to be replaced in certain directions by less well-prepared units of the Russian regular troops, which were defeated and left."

Tributes have been paid to an Agence France-Presse journalist who has been killed in Ukraine.

Arman Soldin was killed when an AFP team came under fire by Grad rockets while they were with a group of Ukrainian soldiers near Bakhmut, the epicentre of the fighting for months.

His death brings to at least 11 the number of journalists, fixers or drivers for media teams killed since Russia invaded Ukraine more than a year ago, according to advocacy groups.

The French foreign minister, Catherine Colonna, paid tribute to Soldin's "courage" and described his work as "essential" to understanding the facts around the war in Ukraine.

The UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, said: "Arman was a talented and courageous journalist and his death is obviously devastating for those who knew him."

"Journalism continues to shine a light in the darkness of this war, and Arman's work was vital to that.

Pavlo Kyrylenko, the head of the Donetsk region where Bakhmut lies and which has been partially controlled by Kremlin-backed forces for years, offered his condolences to Soldin's friends and family.

"I thank everyone who - risking their own lives - continues to tell the truth about our war," he said.

Some more on the claims earlier that the Ukrainian army has partially destroyed a Russian brigade that has been fighting in Bakhmut.

Moscow has not commented on the reports that its 72nd separate motor rifle brigade had abandoned its positions on the south-western outskirts of Bakhmut.

Russia's ministry of defence did not immediately reply to a request for comment, and Reuters said it was unable to independently confirm the situation on the ground.

A Russian brigade is typically formed of several thousand troops. The eastern Ukrainian city has been the primary target of Moscow's huge winter offensive and scene of the bloodiest ground combat in Europe since the second world war.

Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, who has repeatedly accused Moscow's regular armed forces of failing to adequately support his private army leading the fight in Bakhmut, said on Tuesday that the Russian brigade had abandoned its positions.

"Our army is fleeing. The 72nd Brigade pissed away three square km this morning, where I had lost around 500 men," Prigozhin said.

In a statement overnight, Ukraine's Third Separate Assault Brigade said: "It's official. Prigozhin's report about the flight of Russia's 72nd Independent Motorized Rifle Brigade from near Bakhmut and the '500 corpses' of Russians left behind is true."

"The Third Assault Brigade is grateful for the publicity about our success at the front."

Early on Wednesday the Ukrainian unit, which was formed last year from the nationalist Azov battalion, reposted a video of one of Azov's founders, Andriy Biletsky, who said his forces had "defeated" the Russian brigade.

"In fact, the 6th and 7th squadrons of this brigade were almost entirely destroyed, brigade intelligence was destroyed, a large number of fighting vehicles were destroyed a considerable number of prisoners were taken," he said.

Canada and Latvia will become the latest countries to help train Ukrainian troops.

They will jointly lead Ukrainian soldiers on Latvian soil from 15 May, the Canadian defence minister, Anita Anand, said on Wednesday.

The training programme will complement other Canadian efforts to train Ukrainian soldiers in the UK and in Poland, said Anand, speaking to reporters alongside her Latvian counterpart, Ināra Mūrniece, in Ottawa.

Vladimir Putin has signed a decree calling up military reservists for training in 2023, according to a document published on Wednesday on a government website.

The training of these Russian citizens, who are in the armed forces reserve, is a planned annual event.

Reservists were partially mobilised in September last year, as the Kremlin looked to bolster its forces in the midst of a swift counteroffensive by Ukrainian troops.

Russian Wagner mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin complained on Wednesday that his fighters were still not getting enough shells from the official defence ministry to underpin what he claimed was their advance in the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.
In an audio statement, he said the defence ministry - which has promised to ensure that all combat units have the resources they need - had been holding long meetings on the shell issue but that there had been no breakthrough.

"We're not receiving enough shells, we're only getting 10%," Prigozhin said, reported Reuters.

"We're scraping by with a minimal quantity of shells," he said, adding his mercenaries were nonetheless continuing to advance in Bakhmut.

Prigozhin said the Russian leadership had asked the defence ministry to check the status of Wagner's shell request, but that bureaucracy meant the process was a slow one.

Late last week Prigozhin posted a video of an expletive-laden tirade addressed at senior Russian army officials while standing in what appeared to be a field of Russian corpses. He accused officials of "getting fat" in their offices while his troops died. He subsequently threatened in public to withdraw Wagner forces from Bakhmut, a Ukrainian city Russia has spent ten months trying to take.

Germany will buy an additional 50 Puma fighting vehicles worth €1.5bn (£1.3bn/$1.65bn) for its armed forces, two participants in the parliamentary budget committee which approved the purchase on Wednesday have told Reuters.

Berlin has ramped up defence spending after Russia's invasion of Ukraine last year, both sending weapons to Kyiv and replenishing its own military stocks.

The then German defence minister Christine Lambrecht sits in a Puma fighting tank in Munster in Germany in 2022. Photograph: Fabian Bimmer/Reuters

Ukraine's military has said its forces have seriously damaged Russia's 72nd independent motorised rifle brigade near Bakhmut, and that the eastern city remained Moscow's main target.

Serhiy Cherevatyi, a spokesperson for Ukrainian troops in the east, said the situation remained "difficult" in Bakhmut but that Moscow was increasingly forced to use regular army units because of heavy losses among the Wagner private army group.

The Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose private Wagner group is fighting in Bakhmut, said on Tuesday that the brigade had abandoned its positions.

"Unfortunately they have not destroyed the whole [Russian] brigade yet, two companies have been seriously damaged there," Cherevatyi said in televised comments.

"The situation [in Bakhmut] remains difficult because for the enemy, despite all the white noise Prigozhin is trying to create, it [Bakhmut] is the main direction of attack, the main coveted target."

France has asked China to make clear to Russia that Moscow is in an "impasse" in its war with Ukraine, as Beijing seeks to mediate in the conflict.

The French foreign minister, Catherine Colonna, told a cabinet meeting that Beijing should urge Russia to "return to peace", according to a post-cabinet press briefing Reuters has reported.

"It is necessary for China to use its relations with Russia to make Russia understand better that it is at an impasse, and to tell Russia to come back to its senses," she said.

The request comes after French president, Emmanuel Macron, visited China last month and sparked controversy by saying that Europe should not be a "follower" of either Washington or Beijing or get caught up in any escalation over the future of Taiwan.

The remarks sparked much comment, including from the German defence minister, Boris Pistorius, who called them "unfortunate", adding: "We have never been in danger of becoming or being a vassal of the United States."

The Ukrainian army has claimed that Russia is stopping workers and their relatives from leaving Zaporizhzhia, despite organising their evacuation from the area near the Russian-occupied nuclear power plant.

On Wednesday Ukraine's state-owned energy company, Energoatom, said it had been told that about 3,100 people were to be withdrawn from the southern city from Enerhodar, including 2,700 who had signed contracts with the Russian-installed company.

Warnings have frequently been issued over how dangerous the situation at the power plant has been since the invasion last year.

However the situation looks murkier than first thought. In its daily update on Wednesday morning, the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces said:

In Enerhodar, the Russian occupiers organised a so-called "evacuation" for family members of Zaporizhzhia NPP [nuclear power plant] employees. Yet the employees of the power plant are not allowed to leave the city.

The so-called "authorities" put in office by the occupation forces announced the evacuation to recreation centres and hotels of Berdiansk and Kyrylivka. However, those who agreed were taken to Rostov oblast [in Russia] and placed in tent camps.

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Russian forces in Bakhmut pushed back by up to 2km in some areas, claims Ukraine military commander - as it happened

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Russian forces in Bakhmut pushed back by up to 2km in some areas, claims Ukraine military commander A Ukrainian military commander has said that Russian forces in Bakhmut had been pushed back by up to 2km in some areas, after counteroffensives. Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, who heads Ukraine's ground forces, made the comments in a post on Telegram.

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7.6 earthquake hits off Tonga, no tsunami warning

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The quake struck at 4am NZT, at a depth of 210km.

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Amid warnings about looming fiscal catastrophe, the GOP is attempting to use Biden's climate agenda as a bargaining chip over raising the debt ceiling - even if it could hurt Republican voters.

Late last month, House Republicans narrowly passed speaker Kevin McCarthy's proposal to raise the government's debt ceiling in exchange for sweeping cuts to federal spending.

Known as the Limit, Save, Grow Act, the proposal - which is unlikely to progress through the Democrat-majority Senate and which the president says he would veto - would eliminateBiden's student loan forgiveness plan and claw back pandemic relief spending. It would also repeal most of the new renewable energy tax incentives codified in the Inflation Reduction Act.

"Republicans unfortunately are not allowing government to function as intended," said Mark Paul, a professor of economics at Rutgers University.

All but six Senate Republicans on Saturday promised to oppose raising the debt ceiling "without substantive spending and budget reforms", supporting McCarthy's position. Biden is set to meet with McCarthy on Tuesday.

The Inflation Reduction Act dedicated $369bn to climate and renewable energy policies, constituting the largest down payment on climate policy in US history. But the GOP proposal would gut the majority of those provisions.

The McCarthy bill would repeal the $4,000 credits for used vehicles and phase out some of the $7,500 credits for new EVs, remove tax breaks for building solar panels and other clean energy infrastructure, and put an array of other climate incentives on the chopping block. RL Miller, president of the advocacy group Climate Hawks Vote and a member of the Democratic National Committee, called it a "hostage situation".

"I am screaming at the top of my lungs for climate people who don't normally get that into debt ceiling fights ... to get involved in this one," she said.

The proposal was also originally set to eliminate incentives for the production of corn ethanol, but members of the Republican caucus from the midwest, where corn used to make ethanol is grown, successfully fought to preserve those provisions.

The proposed cuts could help McCarthy curry favor with the far-right wing of his party. But if passed, the measure would come at great cost to Republican voters. The Financial Times last month found that red congressional districts have secured five times more funding for clean energy projects from the Inflation Reduction Act than blue districts; Politico found that two-thirds of the major renewable energy projects announced from the spending bill's passage through January 2023 were slated for Republican-led districts. The result would be the loss of more than 77,000 clean energy jobs across 72 Republican-held districts, according to a recent report by the environmental advocacy organization Climate Power.

"People in red states, in particular, need to be aware that their representatives are acting counter to their own economic interests," said Miller.

McCarthy also slipped a GOP proposal to speed energy permitting into his debt ceiling bill. Known as HR 1, the measure, which passed the House in March, would expedite the federal approval of energy projects and limit states' ability to reject them, while buttressing domestic fossil fuel production.

Among the "most egregious" provisions: a plan to repeal a fee that the Inflation Reduction Act imposed on emissions of methane - a greenhouse gas that is 80 times more planet-warming than carbon dioxide in the short term - from oil and gas operations, said Michelle Deatrick, head of the Democratic National Committee's Council on the Environment and Climate Crisis.

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"That's the low-hanging fruit of the climate crisis, the thing that we need to do now without delay," she said. "And it is also something that we know how to reduce quickly."

If Congress can't reach an agreement on the debt ceiling and the US defaults on its debts, Paul said the effects would be cataclysmic.

"We're talking about catastrophic global financial systems that will make 2008 look like a bump in the road in comparison," he said. "This would be economic apocalypse."

In that scenario, he said, the US could bring climate spending to a halt. But there's no reason for Biden to entertain that possibility, he said, because he has the ability to unilaterally end the debate by instructing the US Treasury to mint a single trillion-dollar coin or issue premium bonds.

US officials warn that the climate crisis poses an existential risk to the US financial system - one that will require massive spending to avert. Studies show that delayed climate action will only increase costs in the future.

"We have Republicans essentially saying, 'Well, in order to put the US economy on better ground, we need to cut climate spending,'" said Paul, "which is just talking about shooting yourself in the foot."

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Republicans take aim at Biden's climate plan in debt ceiling fight

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Amid warnings about looming fiscal catastrophe, the GOP is attempting to use Biden's climate agenda as a bargaining chip over raising the debt ceiling - even if it could hurt Republican voters. Late last month, House Republicans narrowly passed speaker Kevin McCarthy's proposal to raise the government's debt ceiling in exchange for sweeping cuts to federal spending.

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Opinion | The Importance of E. Jean Carroll’s Lawsuit Against Donald Trump

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A lawsuit against the former president is among the most significant developments of the post-#MeToo era.

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La Ligue arabe et la Syrie : le clan Assad réhabilité – Le dessous des cartes – L’essentiel | ARTE

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'We understand there is retaliation, but we will not be intimidated,' Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says [File: Blair Gable/Reuters]

Canada "will not be intimidated" by China, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said, after the Chinese government said it is expelling a Canadian diplomat in a tit-for-tat move linked to allegations Beijing sought to intimidate a Canadian legislator and his family.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Trudeau said his government made the decision to expel Zhao Wei, a Chinese diplomat based in Toronto, from the country this week after "careful consideration".

Hours later, Beijing announced it would expel Jennifer Lynn Lalonde, the Canadian consul in Shanghai, in a "reciprocal countermeasure".

"We understand there is retaliation, but we will not be intimidated. We will continue to do everything necessary to keep Canadians protected from foreign interference," Trudeau said on Tuesday, adding that his government had considered that Beijing could take retaliatory steps.

"But we decided that we needed to move forward in a responsible way to send a very clear message that we will not accept foreign interference, and regardless of whatever next choices they make, we will not be intimidated," the Canadian prime minister said.

"And more, we will ensure that China continues to see - along with other countries that are engaging in foreign interference - that we take this extraordinarily seriously."

Trudeau's government has been under pressure to take action after the Globe and Mail newspaper reported earlier this month that China had sought information about any relatives of a Canadian legislator "who may be located" within its borders.

The move was likely part of an effort to "make an example of this MP and deter others" from taking anti-China positions, the newspaper said, citing Canada's spy agency, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS).

Zhao, the Chinese diplomat, was accused of being involved in the scheme.

While the CSIS report did not name the lawmaker, the Globe said a national security source identified the targeted politician as Michael Chong, a member of the opposition Conservative Party of Canada.

Chong was sanctioned by China in 2021 after he spearheaded a Canadian parliamentary motion designating the country's treatment of its Uighur Muslim minority in the western province of Xinjiang a "genocide" - an accusation long rejected by the Chinese government.

China has dismissed the accusations that it interfered in Canada's internal affairs, accusing Ottawa of expelling Zhao "based on rumours" that have been "hyped up by some politicians and media".

"This has seriously violated international law, basic norms governing international relations and the related bilateral agreements, and sabotaged the China-Canada relations," the Chinese embassy in Ottawa said in a statement on Monday evening.

"China never interferes in other countries' internal affairs. The so-called 'China Interference' is totally groundless, which is the out-and-out smear of China and the political manipulation driven by ideological bias. Such provocations by the Canadian side have severely undermined the legitimate rights and interests of the Chinese diplomatic and consular personnel."

In contrast to the Chinese embassy's description of affairs, Canadian legislators from all major parties have accused Beijing of being involved in a years-long intimidation campaign targeting members of the Chinese-Canadian community - particularly those who have spoken out against Chinese government policies.

"We have known for years that the PRC [People's Republic of China] is using its accredited diplomats here in Canada to target Canadians and their families," said Chong, the Conservative lawmaker at the heart of the most recent allegations.

"I hope that this makes it clear to not just the PRC but other authoritarian states that have representation here in Canada that this crossing the line of diplomacy into foreign interference threat activities is utterly unacceptable here on Canadian soil," he told reporters on Monday.

The China-Canada relationship has been frosty for several years, especially after Canadian authorities detained Huawei Technologies executive Meng Wanzhou in 2018 on a United States arrest warrant. China then arrested two Canadians on spying charges.

While the standoff ended when all three people were released in 2021, relations have remained sour over several points of contention, including human rights and trade.

Meanwhile, Ottawa continues to face calls to investigate other alleged instances of Chinese interference, including attempts to meddle in Canadian elections and the use of covert "police stations" in Canada. Beijing has rejected those allegations.

Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies

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Canada 'will not be intimidated' by China, PM Trudeau says

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Canada "will not be intimidated" by China, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said, after the Chinese government said it is expelling a Canadian diplomat in a tit-for-tat move linked to allegations Beijing sought to intimidate a Canadian legislator and his family.

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During your trial you will have complete digital access to FT.com with everything in both of our Standard Digital and Premium Digital packages. Standard Digital includes access to a wealth of global news, analysis and expert opinion. Premium Digital includes access to our premier business column, Lex, as well as 15 curated newsletters covering key business themes with original, in-depth reporting.

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One dead, 30 injured in new wave of unrest in Senegal

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Protesters have taken to the streets in capital Dakar against what they call an increasingly repressive state.

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The talks are taking place as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad mends ties with regional powers after more than a decade of isolation.

The foreign ministers of Russia, Syria, Turkey and Iran have met in Moscow [Russian Foreign Ministry/Reuters]

The foreign ministers of Russia, Syria, Turkey and Iran have met in Moscow for high-level talks on rebuilding ties between Ankara and Damascus after years of animosity during Syria's war.

Syria's Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad was quoted as saying by the Syrian state news agency SANA that "despite all the negatives of the past years, there is an opportunity" for Damascus and Ankara to work together.

But the priority for the Syrian government was ending the presence of all foreign militaries, including Turkey's. "Without progress in this matter, we will remain stagnant and will not reach any real results," Mekdad was quoted as saying.

Syria's northwest includes territory held by opposition groups, including armed forces backed by Turkey.

Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement that there had been a "positive and constructive atmosphere" and that the countries' deputy foreign ministers would be tasked with preparing a roadmap to advance Syria-Turkey ties.

In his opening speech, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov expressed hope that the meeting would pave the way to drafting a road map for normalising Turkey-Syria relations.

Lavrov said he sees Moscow's task as "not only in consolidating politically the progress that has been made, but also in determining general guidelines for further movement".

Moscow is Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's main ally and Russia has encouraged reconciliation with Turkey. Syrian and Turkish defence ministers also held talks in Moscow in December.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu stressed the need for "cooperation in the fight against terrorism and working together to establish the basis for the return of Syrians" during the meeting, he said in a tweet.

Cavusoglu said "taking the political process in Syria forward and protection of Syria's territorial integrity" were the other issues discussed.

NATO member Turkey has backed political and armed opposition to al-Assad during the 12-year war, and sent its troops into the country's north. It is also hosting more than 3.5 million refugees from its neighbour.

Arab League invite

Also on Wednesday, al-Assad was formally invited to attend the Arab League summit in Saudi Arabia on May 19 in a significant sign that the regional isolation of Damascus has thawed.

Foreign ministers from Arab League member states agreed at the headquarters in Cairo on Sunday to reinstate Syria's membership after its suspension more than 10 years ago.

Arab states have been looking to normalise ties, working towards an "Arab-led political path" in solving the crisis and continuing direct dialogue on common issues including the refugee crisis, "terrorism", and drug smuggling.

The restoration of ties with Damascus quickened pace following the deadly February 6 earthquake in Turkey and Syria, and the Chinese-brokered re-establishment of ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which had backed opposing sides in the Syrian conflict.

While Saudi Arabia had long resisted normalising relations with al-Assad, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud visited Damascus last month for the first time in more than a decade, and the two countries are also restoring embassies and flights between them.

The decision to allow Syria back into the Arab League has sparked anger among many residents of opposition-held areas of Syria and members of the country's political opposition, who see it as a vindication of the government's attacks against them during a now 12-year war.

Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies

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Russia, Syria, Turkey and Iran hold high-level talks in Moscow

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The talks are taking place as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad mends ties with regional powers after more than a decade of isolation. The foreign ministers of Russia, Syria, Turkey and Iran have met in Moscow for high-level talks on rebuilding ties between Ankara and Damascus after years of animosity during Syria's war.

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Djerba Tunisia: Deadly shooting near Africa's oldest synagogue

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Two visitors and two security guards are killed in an attack on the Tunisian island of Djerba.

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Palestinians fire barrage of rockets after Israel bombs Gaza

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Exchange of fire comes after Israeli attacks kill at least 16 people, including children, in besieged Gaza Strip.

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AFP journalist Arman Soldin snaps a selfie with a cat on his shoulder during an assignment for AFP in Ukraine. ARMAN SOLDIN / AFP

Agence France-Presse Ukraine video coordinator Arman Soldin was killed on Tuesday, May 9, by rocket fire near Chasiv Yar in eastern Ukraine, journalists who witnessed the incident said. The attack happened at around 4:30 pm on the outskirts of the town close to Bakhmut, the epicentre of the fighting in eastern Ukraine for several months.

The AFP team came under fire from Grad rockets while they were with a group of Ukrainian soldiers. Soldin, 32, was killed when a rocket struck close to where he was lying. The rest of the team was uninjured.

"The whole agency is devastated by the loss of Arman," AFP chairman Fabrice Fries said. "His death is a terrible reminder of the risks and dangers faced by journalists every day covering the conflict in Ukraine."

French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to Soldin on Twitter, hailing his "bravery." "With bravery, from the first hours of the conflict he was at the front to establish the facts. To inform us," Macron wrote, saying he shared "the pain of his relatives and all his colleagues."

Ukraine's defence ministry offered its "heartfelt condolences" to Soldin's family and coworkers, saying he was killed in a Russian missile attack on Chasiv Yar in the eastern region of Donetsk. "He dedicated his life to informing the world about the truth. His legacy, as well as his cause, will live on," it said.

Born in Sarajevo, Soldin was a French national who began working for AFP as an intern in its Rome bureau in 2015 and was later hired in London. He was part of the first AFP team to be sent to Ukraine following the start of Russia's invasion on February 24, 2022, arriving on the following day.

Soldin had been living in Ukraine since September, leading the team's video coverage and travelling regularly to the front lines in the east and south.

'Devoted to his craft'

Soldin's death means at least 11 journalists or fixers and drivers for media teams have been killed covering the war in Ukraine, according to the media advocacy groups Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

In Washington, the White House also paid tribute to Soldin, with Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre saying the world was "indebted" to the journalists who lost their lives covering the conflict. "Journalism is fundamental to a free society," she said in a statement.

"Arman's brilliant work encapsulated everything that has made us so proud of AFP's journalism in Ukraine," the agency's Global News Director Phil Chetwynd said. "Arman's death is a terrible reminder of the risks and dangers of covering this war. Our thoughts tonight are with his family and friends, and with all our people on the ground in Ukraine."

AFP's Europe Director Christine Buhagiar remembered Soldin as "a real on-the-ground reporter, always ready to work even in the most difficult places," she said. "He was totally devoted to his craft."

Colleagues said Soldin knew in particular how to recount the lives of ordinary people caught up in the Ukraine conflict, desperately trying to survive amid the chaos. In Kyiv, he found a tender moment between a conscripted father and his young son who had fled abroad, bonding over a strategy game online.

Earlier this month, he rescued an injured hedgehog from a trench and nursed it back to health. He named it Lucky. The founder of the Ukrainian animal rights organisation UAnimals, Oleksandr Todorchuk, spoke of Soldin's "absolute kindness" when he came to the hedgehog's aid.

UAnimals was setting up a grant for volunteers and shelters that rescue hedgehogs "in memory of Soldin and his great heart," Todorchuk wrote on Facebook.

We are devastated to learn of the death of AFP video journalist Arman Soldin in eastern Ukraine today. All of our... https://t.co/umBYqagYma
- AFP (@AFP News Agency)

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French AFP journalist killed by rocket fire in eastern Ukraine

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Agence France-Presse Ukraine video coordinator Arman Soldin was killed on Tuesday, May 9, by rocket fire near Chasiv Yar in eastern Ukraine, journalists who witnessed the incident said. The attack happened at around 4:30 pm on the outskirts of the town close to Bakhmut, the epicentre of the fighting in eastern Ukraine for several months.

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China on Tuesday expelled a Canadian diplomat in Shanghai, a day after Canada announced it would expel a Chinese diplomat over allegations he was involved in efforts to intimidate a Canadian politician.

In a statement Tuesday, China's Foreign Ministry said it strongly condemned the expulsion of Toronto-based diplomat Zhao Wei, and as "reciprocal countermeasure," would declare Jennifer Lynn Lalonde, a consul of the Consulate General of Canada in Shanghai, persona non grata.

Lalonde has been asked to leave China before May 13, according to the statement.

The tit-for-tat move marks a new low in a years-long deterioration of ties between the two countries and comes amid a period of rising concerns in Canada about Chinese influence, including public uproar over allegations that China attempted to meddle in Canada's 2019 and 2021 elections.

Hours after Beijing announced it would expel Lalonde, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson at a regular briefing threatened that China would "resolutely and forcefully respond" if the Canadian government "keeps acting recklessly" and accused Canadian media and some politicians of "fabricating false information."

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters in Ottawa on Tuesday that Canada would "not be intimidated" by Beijing's reaction.

"We will take whatever action is necessary to continue to protect our democracy and show that we're standing up for our values and our principles. We understand there is retaliation but we will not be intimidated," Trudeau said.

Canada moved to expel Zhao on Monday, following mounting public pressure on the Canadian government to respond to revelations the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) found an accredited Chinese diplomat in the country had taken efforts toward targeting opposition lawmaker Michael Chong and relatives who may be in China.

The alleged targeting took place after Chong sponsored a motion to condemn China's treatment of its Uyghur Muslim minority group. The intelligence was first reported by Canadian newspaper the Globe and Mail earlier this month.

Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly on Monday said Ottawa "will not tolerate any form of foreign interference in our internal affairs. Diplomats in Canada have been warned that if they engage in this type of behaviour, they will be sent home."

Beijing has repeatedly denied accusations of political interference in Canada.

The two countries' relations have already come under significant strain in recent years, in particular following Beijing's detention of two Canadians in China in move widely seen as retaliation for Canada's 2018 arrest of a Chinese businesswoman Meng Wanzhou.

Beijing repeatedly denied that their cases were political retaliation, but the two men, former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor, were released on the same day Meng was allowed by Canada to return to China in 2021.

There have also been growing public concern about alleged Chinese interference within the country, including through the operation of overseas police stations and policing of speech in the country, which has a large community of people with Chinese heritage.

Mounting pressure

Allegations of Chinese interference in Canadian politics have become a growing challenge for the government of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who earlier this year initiated an investigation to identify and combat foreign interference in Canada's elections and its democracy.

Trudeau has said intelligence services had failed to brief him about the alleged targeting of Chong. His Foreign Ministry summoned Chinese Ambassador to Canada Cong Peiwu last week after the media reporting on the intelligence emerged.

Chong, who represents the Wellington-Halton Hills district in Ontario, had called for Zhao's expulsionand criticized Trudeau's government for being too slow to act.

In a statement posted to Twitter on May 1, Chong said that he found out about the intelligence - which was referenced in a 2021 CSIS report - through the Globe and Mail report, despite having been briefed on general foreign interference threats by CSIS.

"Like many Canadians, I have family abroad. The PRC's (People's Republic of China) targeting of family abroad to intimidate and coerce Canadians here at home is a serious, national threat," Chong wrote in the statement, in which he says he has family in Hong Kong.

Chong was among several political figures sanctioned by China in March 2021 in what Beijing called a response to American and Canadian sanctions against individuals and entities in its western region of Xinjiang "based on rumors and disinformation."

China has been accused of committing serious human rights violations that may amount to crimes against humanity in its treatment of Uyghur and other Muslim minorities in the region. Beijing denies the claims, and rights groups have documented its efforts to quash international focus on the situation there.

In February 2021, Canada's parliament passed its non-binding motion saying China's treatment of Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region constitutes genocide.

Repercussions?

China has yet to specify what "countermeasures" it may take in response to Zhao's expulsion, but these could include a tit-for-tat expulsion of a diplomat at Canada's mission in China.

Beijing is also widely seen to have a track record of using economic or trade-related measures to express displeasure with diplomatic partners.

The expelled diplomat Zhao was listed in the Department of Global Affairs' record of foreign diplomats as working in China's Toronto consulate, the Globe and Mail reported earlier this month.

His name was not visible in a CNN search of the directory of China's foreign representatives Monday night.

Prior to naming Zhao as "persona non grata" Monday, Foreign Affairs Minister Joly last week said Canada's government needed to carefully weigh how China might react to a Canadian response.

China would "of course" take action against Canada's "economic interest, consumer interest and also diplomatic interests," Joly told parliamentarians on Thursday, adding that, "I know that we are under pressure to go fast, (but) we need to make sure as well that we protect our democracy."

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Canadian diplomat expelled from China in tit--for-tat measure | CNN

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China on Tuesday expelled a Canadian diplomat in Shanghai, a day after Canada announced it would expel a Chinese diplomat over allegations he was involved in efforts to intimidate a Canadian politician.

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Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan arrested by paramilitary police | CNN

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Former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was arrested on Tuesday by paramilitary troops who smashed their way into a courthouse in Islamabad to detain him on multiple corruption charges.

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On Monday, humanitarian workers were still recovering the bodies of victims in the villages of Bushushu and Nyamukubi, where entire houses were swept away, according to Reuters. The death toll may continue to rise as an unknown number of people remain missing, the United Nations said.

The disaster comes on the heels of deadly landslides and flooding in neighboring Rwanda and Uganda last week.

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In photos: Congo floods kill at least 400

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On Monday, humanitarian workers were still recovering the bodies of victims in the villages of Bushushu and Nyamukubi, where entire houses were swept away, according to Reuters. The death toll may continue to rise as an unknown number of people remain missing, the United Nations said.

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China is the only permanent member of the UN security council which has not achieved national unification, Beijing has told the UK's national security adviser, while urging this country to respect Chinese sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Wang Yi, the Chinese Communist Party's director of foreign affairs, spoke to Tim Barrow on the phone and praised "positive signs" from Whitehall after James Cleverly, the foreign secretary, warned that it would be a mistake to isolate Beijing in a new Cold War.

"It shows the positive signs that the UK side is willing to view China's development objectively," said Wang, who is ranked higher than the Chinese foreign minister.

Wang told Barrow it was a historical fact that Taiwan belongs to China and claimed this was the

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China reiterates claim on Taiwan in call to UK security chief

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China is the only permanent member of the UN security council which has not achieved national unification, Beijing has told the UK's national security adviser, while urging this country to respect Chinese sovereignty and territorial integrity.

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Can Trump still run for president? This verdict isn’t the end

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Donald Trump has weathered storms that would have washed away any other political career — will Republicans stick with him now a jury has branded him a sexual a

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Saudi Arabia and Syria to resume diplomatic missions after decade-long freeze: state media | CNN

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Saudi Arabia and Syria have resumed the work of diplomatic missions in both countries, according to state media, more than a decade after Riyadh cut ties over the Syrian government’s brutal handling of its civil war.

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t is the worst of times and the best of times for Donald Trump. On Tuesday, he suffered another legal defeat. A federal jury found him liable for the sexual abuse, forcible touching, and defamation of E Jean Carroll. She was awarded $5m in damages.

The 45th president, however, escaped liability for rape. He also leads Joe Biden in their latest hypothetical match-up, while Ron DeSantis fades in the rearview mirror.

The midterms in November 2022 ended with an underwhelming GOP performance, DeSantis emerging triumphant in his reelection bid, and Trump licking his wounds. Not any more. He's back.

The public judges Biden to be less than sharp, and his stewardship of the economy similarly lacking. Record low unemployment has failed to dissipate the stings of inflation, high interest rates and an underperforming stock market. Retirement accounts have taken a hit. Food prices are high. Folks are angry.

Meanwhile, Hunter Biden, the first son, faces the prospect of indictment on tax and gun charges. Biden professes that the boy has done nothing wrong, but even if he escapes prosecution, the sins of the son will likely be visited upon the father. It feels incestuous.

Given this tableau, the impact of the Trump sexual assault outcome is likely to be muted, which is not to say that this latest loss won't bring fallout.

In the run-up to the verdict, the court released a deposition video that showed Trump unable to identify Carroll in a photograph. Instead, he confused her with Marla Maples, his second wife. In that moment, he put the lie to his non-denial-denial that Carroll wasn't his "type".

The potential for fall debate drama over Trump's brain fog is high. Remember when he bragged about his performance in a cognitive test ("Person, woman, man, camera, TV")? His mental acuity, too, is now likely to become a campaign issue. Turnabout is fair play. Biden isn't the only one with issues.

Still, Trump has already survived the infamous Access Hollywood tape. "When you are a star, they let you do it ... You can do anything," he cackled back in the day.

"I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters, OK," Trump mused seven years ago. He was definitely on to something.

For many Republicans, Trump is their Caesar, a cultural avatar and warrior who possesses license to flout and defy convention. Conversely, the GOP primary field is too timid to comment, let alone criticize or condemn Trump.

For rivals purportedly wedded to law and order, their silence is both deafening and unsurprising. Apparently, the wrath of Trump loyalists far exceeds any possible political benefit.

Mike Pence still won't go full bore at his ex-boss over the events of January 6. The former vice-president tiptoes around the topic. The fact that Trump was unperturbed by the mob's calls for Pence to be hanged apparently warrants no further discussion.

Then there's DeSantis. Bashing Disney is one thing; trashing Trump is another. Glaringly, he failed to use the Carroll trial to further his own ambitions: he didn't dispatch his wife, Casey DeSantis, there to offer thoughts and prayers for the plaintiff or Melania Trump.

The cameras would have been rolling and DeSantis would have been credited for surgically wielding a scalpel instead of crudely brandishing his usual axe. Instead, DeSantis went overseas in a vain bid to grow foreign policy credentials.

In London, he fell on his face as he attempted to woo the titans of British industry. "Ron DeTedious: DeSantis underwhelms Britain's business chiefs", the headline at Politico blared. "UK captains of industry lambast 'low-wattage' US presidential hopeful."

Low wattage is the new low energy. Once upon a time, Jeb Bush was Florida's governor. The song remains the same.

DeSantis also met Israel's beleaguered Benjamin Netanyahu - who failed to release a photo of their meeting. At this juncture, DeSantis's anticipated announcement feels stale and overdue.

His purported legislative accomplishments have earned him the title of "2024's Ted Cruz"; the most rightwing GOP contender, little else. He makes Wall Street's Republicans uncomfortable. Once again, the non-Trump challenger is a mirage.

Looking ahead Trump's future is muddled. He remains under criminal indictment. Grand juries in DC and Georgia proceed apace. Separately, an October trial date is set in the $250m civil fraud action commenced by New York state against him, his three older children and the Trump Organization.

It's too soon for Trump to gloat, but he can definitely smile.

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Liable for sexual assault, yes - but Trump's political career is far from over | Lloyd Green

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t is the worst of times and the best of times for Donald Trump. On Tuesday, he suffered another legal defeat. A federal jury found him liable for the sexual abuse, forcible touching, and defamation of E Jean Carroll. She was awarded $5m in damages. The 45th president, however, escaped liability for rape.

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Japan, South Korea deepen ties at historic summit

CNN's Paula Hancocks reports from Seoul, where the Japanese prime minister arrived for a historic visit with his South Korean counterpart. It's the first time a Japanese leader has visited the capital in more than a decade, part of a push for the two nations to mend ties in the face of growing threats in the region.

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CNN's Paula Hancocks reports from Seoul, where the Japanese prime minister arrived for a historic visit with his South Korean counterpart. It's the first time a Japanese leader has visited the capital in more than a decade, part of a push for the two nations to mend ties in the face of growing threats in the region.

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Tens of thousands of Serbs have joined protests against gun violence in the capital Belgrade and Novi Sad after two mass shootings last week. Seventeen people died in the shootings on Wednesday and Thursday, including eight children in a primary school.

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Watch thousands march in Serbian anti-gun protest

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Tens of thousands of Serbs have joined protests against gun violence in the capital Belgrade and Novi Sad after two mass shootings last week. Seventeen people died in the shootings on Wednesday and Thursday, including eight children in a primary school.

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Putin says ‘real war’ being waged against Russia

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Syria has been devastated by 12 years of war, and though many Arab countries initially froze out President Bashar al-Assad for his attacks on the Syrian opposition, his government has now been readmitted to the Arab League [File: Hosam Katan/Reuters]

The decision to allow Syria back into the Arab League has sparked anger among many residents of opposition-held northern Syria and members of the country's political opposition, who see it as a vindication of the government's attacks against them during a now 12-year war.

Several Arab League members decided this week to reinstate Syria's membership, under the leadership of President Bashar al-Assad, after more than a decade of isolation at the organisation's headquarters in Cairo on Sunday.

"I was very surprised by this decision because I expected our Arab brothers, leaders, and princes to hold Bashar al-Assad accountable for his crimes against the Syrian people over the past 12 years, not to help wash the stains of our blood and body parts of our children and women," Ghassan al-Yousef, a Syrian dissident from the town of al-Tah in southern Idlib, told Al Jazeera.

Al-Yousef was displaced from his village after government forces took control of it at the end of 2018.

Syria's Arab League membership was revoked after al-Assad ordered a crackdown on protesters in March 2011 that spiralled the country into a war, which has since killed nearly half a million people and displaced another 23 million.

Some Arab states have pushed to end al-Assad's isolation and welcomed the decision, while others have opposed full normalisation without a political solution to the Syrian conflict and want there to be conditions for Syria's return.

Al-Yousef said the decision to readmit the al-Assad government to the Arab League would not change the demands of citizens like him who still support its removal, want it held it accountable for its crimes, and hope it will be replaced by a free, democratic Syria without Russian or Iranian influence.

"From now on, they must look for a new name for the Arab League after Iran succeeded in infiltrating it through its agent, Bashar al-Assad," he said.

Iran and Russia have been al-Assad's main backers throughout the war.

The Arab League decided to form a ministerial committee to continue direct dialogue with the Syrian government towards a comprehensive solution to the Syrian crisis and adjacent issues including the refugee crisis, "terrorism", and drug smuggling.

Drug smuggling, in particular, has become one of the biggest worries for Gulf countries, which are a major market for Captagon pills mainly manufactured in Syria.

Radwan al-Atrash, a political activist and the former head of Idlib's political authority - a major opposition bloc - said the Arab League had failed the Arab people again.

"The decisions of the Arab League [...] have always failed to protect the interests of Arab peoples, especially in Palestine, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, and recently Sudan," al-Atrash told Al Jazeera.

The Arab League's statement emphasised the need for practical steps towards a gradual solution to the Syrian crisis, in line with United Nations Security Council Resolution 2254, which calls for negotiations on political transition. But al-Atrash isn't convinced al-Assad and his allies will comply.

"The regime and its supporters, Russia and Iran, are not serious about implementing Resolution 2254 because Bashar al-Assad believes that launching the political process will lead to his demise and the seizure of power from him," he said.

Many members still object

While there have been several accusations over the year that Syria's opposition is fragmented, the opposition activists who spoke to Al Jazeera do not see al-Assad's readmission to the League as a sign that the opposition has failed.

"The Arab League's decision is not related to the weakness of the opposition but rather a decision that came after the Saudi-Iranian rapprochement," said Ahmad Husseinat, head of the independent political committee in Idlib governorate, which includes opponents of al-Assad, told Al Jazeera.

Saudi Arabia and Iran agreed to restore relations earlier this year, after years of enmity.

"Saudi Arabia shifted from its position of rejecting normalisation with the [al-]Assad regime to being its primary supporter in returning it to the Arab League and restoring relations with it," Husseinat said.

"We know there are many member states who reject the return of the [al-]Assad regime to the League," he added.

The Qatari Foreign Ministry stated on Sunday evening that its position on normalisation with the al-Assad government had not changed and that it remained primarily linked to progress on a political solution that achieves the aspirations of the Syrian people.

"We [the opposition] will work to unify our efforts and intensify our communication with Arab countries that have rejected normalisation with the [al-]Assad regime until we achieve our demands for political change and reach a civil and democratic Syria," said Husseinat.

That message was backed by Mohammed Ghanem, the head of policy at the Syrian American Council.

"Readmitting [al-]Assad into the Arab League sends a blood-soaked message: you can kill, gas, torture, detain, impoverish, and displace millions of people, commit documented atrocities against women and children, destroy schools and places of worship, and still be welcomed back with open arms," said Ghanem.

He told Al Jazeera the decision also signed off on Iran's biggest victory in the region, further entrenching Iran and its proxies in the area, without any meaningful concessions from al-Assad.

"Free normalisation is the latest failure on the part of Arab states at thinking and responding strategically to the challenges facing the region," said Ghanem. "Politics and decision-making in the region continue to be largely driven by the short-sighted and short-term personal agendas of rulers."

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Syria's return to Arab League leaves opposition dismayed

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The decision to allow Syria back into the Arab League has sparked anger among many residents of opposition-held northern Syria and members of the country's political opposition, who see it as a vindication of the government's attacks against them during a now 12-year war.

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Emmanuel Macron a rendu hommage à Jean Moulin à Lyon, attendu par des milliers de manifestants

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Après une commémoration du 8-Mai sur des Champs-Elysées, Emmanuel Macron a visité l’ancienne prison de Montluc, à Lyon, et tenu un discours sur Jean Moulin.

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Millions of people are thought to have watched the Queen's coronation on television in 1953 - but there are no reliable figures, making it difficult to measure against this year's ceremony. Based on surveys carried out by the BBC at the time, it is estimated that more than 20 million adults in the UK watched it.

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King Charles III's Coronation watched by more than 18 million viewers

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Millions of people are thought to have watched the Queen's coronation on television in 1953 - but there are no reliable figures, making it difficult to measure against this year's ceremony. Based on surveys carried out by the BBC at the time, it is estimated that more than 20 million adults in the UK watched it.

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It has become an annual event - the military parade in Red Square in Moscow and cities across Russia on 9 May, marking victory over Nazi Germany in 1945.

Under Vladimir Putin, Victory Day has become a show of strength of troops and military hardware, as well as a chance to remember the sacrifices of World War Two. Twenty-seven million Soviet citizens died, by far the greatest loss of any country, in what Russians call the Great Patriotic War.

This year, the event has taken on a significance of its own. Far from liberating Europe, Russia has waged months of war against its neighbour Ukraine and is devoid of any real form of military victory that it can celebrate.

Regiments that played a key role in the war will parade in front of the top brass and the president, whose address will echo across Red Square and be scrutinised for what to expect next. Russia's leader often uses this moment to send messages of intent.

The Victory Day parade was occasionally marked in the Soviet era and revived by President Boris Yeltsin for the 50th anniversary in 1995, but it was Vladimir Putin in 2008 who made it an annual event featuring military hardware. Russian identity has been largely created with Victory Day in the background, with schoolbooks and history books focusing on Russia as Europe's wartime liberators.

"Even in a normal year it's a huge show of Russia strength, of Putin's control and everything he stands for," says Ammon Cheskin of Glasgow University. "And that's just amplified this year."

Claims that he will declare an end to the campaign have been denied, as have reports that he will announce a full declaration of war or a mobilisation of Russian men. Russia's military would not "artificially adjust" its actions to any particular date, said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Something short of full mobilisation could be announced, in response to Russia's big losses on the battlefield. Dozens of ads have appeared on job websites in recent weeks looking for "specialists in mobilisation work", but such a step could hit the president's popularity and 9 May might not be the right time to announce it.

After Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, Vladimir Putin marked Victory Day with a speech in Red Square about defeating fascism, before flying to the Black Sea port of Sevastopol to celebrate his new victory in front of thousands of onlookers.

"This year the primary objective was to announce the victory that was supposed to happen in February," says Ernest Wyciszkiewicz of the Centre for Polish-Russian Dialogue and Understanding. "They are preparing a PR stunt for Monday: it's important for Russians to see that the special military operation they have been hearing about has led to something tangible."

Instead of celebrating the overthrow of Ukraine's government, the Kremlin will have to settle for the capture of most of Mariupol. The city may lie in ruins, but Russia has repeatedly talked of "de-Nazification and demilitarisation" of Ukraine and it may claim defeat of the Azov battalion, which it has falsely portrayed as Nazi. That would resonate on a day marking World War Two.

"In Russian cities and regional capitals we can see signs with the Victory Day symbol," says Olga Irisova, co-founder of analysis group Riddle Russia. "Usually the signs say 9 May 1945 but this year it's 1945/2022, so they're trying to provide people with the idea that once again they're standing up to Nazis."

In Mariupol itself there will be no Victory Day parade because of apparent security threats. Russia's proxy leader in the region, Denis Pushilin, has said a parade will have to wait until Mariupol becomes part of his so-called Donetsk People's Republic.

There will be unspecified festive events, though, and it could feature prominently in Russian coverage. In the run-up to 9 May the city has had visits from Kremlin TV spin doctor Vladimir Solovyov and a delegation from the Kremlin led by the president's deputy chief of staff, Sergei Kiryenko.

The Red Square Victory Day parade is about aesthetics too, and military hardware in particular. It is a chance for the Kremlin to show off its latest weaponry.

It was the Armata T-14 tank that turned heads on Victory Day in 2015, but it has been conspicuous by its absence in the war in Ukraine, because it is not yet ready for frontline combat. Ukraine says it has destroyed well over 1,000 less modern Russian tanks on the battlefield.

There will be less hardware and fewer troops this year than in 2021. But there will still be some 10,000 troops and 129 pieces of military equipment, according to an analysis by BBC Russian. Gone will be one of Russia's newest tanks, the T-80BVM, as well as the Pantsir-S1 anti-aircraft missile system.

The aerial display will be just as big as before, with 77 planes and helicopters, and the air force has been rehearsing over Red Square in a Z-formation - the controversial symbol adopted by invading forces.

But there will be no foreign leaders this year, which the Kremlin puts down to the 77th anniversary not being a significant event in itself.

Most of the messaging around Victory Day is directed at the Russian population anyway, says Olga Irisova. By harnessing the Nazi narrative from World War Two, the Kremlin is able to stir up strong feelings because most Russians have relatives who either died or struggled in the war.

While events will take place across Russia, in neighbouring countries 9 May has become less and less significant. Ukraine saw some of the greatest losses in the war and a recent opinion poll suggested that the date should be seen as a day of remembrance rather than victory.

Kazakhstan has cancelled its military parade for a third year running and Latvia has declared it a day of remembrance - for victims of Russia's war in Ukraine.

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Why 9 May Victory Day is so important for Russia

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It has become an annual event - the military parade in Red Square in Moscow and cities across Russia on 9 May, marking victory over Nazi Germany in 1945. Under Vladimir Putin, Victory Day has become a show of strength of troops and military hardware, as well as a chance to remember the sacrifices of World War Two.

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9 mai : fête nationale dans la Russie de Poutine – Le dessous des cartes – L’essentiel | ARTE

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https://youtu.be/rpF832i2GzY

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King Charles III - Portrait of a New Monarch | ARTE.tv Documentary