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Ukraine and Russia exchange massive air strikes ahead of peace talks

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Ukraine and Russia exchange massive air strikes ahead of peace talks

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Ukraine and Russia carried out massive air strikes targeting each other’s military infrastructure on Sunday as Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would dispatch a team of negotiators to Istanbul for another round of peace talks.

The Ukrainian President’s confirmation followed days of speculation over whether Kyiv would attend after Zelenskyy accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of doing “everything” to sabotage the talks, which are due to take place on Monday.

Ahead of the talks, both sides launched some of the most ambitious air attacks since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.

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Ukraine’s security service, the SBU, hit four airfields deep inside Russia that were home to a number of strategic bombers used in air raids, according to one of its officials.

“SBU drones are targeting aircraft that bomb Ukrainian cities every night. At this point, more than 40 aircraft have reportedly been hit,” the official told the Financial Times, adding that drones struck four Russian military airfields in “one co-ordinated operation” thousands of kilometres away from the front line.

Aircraft were “burning” at the Belaya airfield, located in south-eastern Siberia about 5,500km east of the Ukrainian border; at the Olenya air base on the Kola Peninsula near Murmansk; Dyagilevo air base 200km south-east of Moscow; and Ivanovo airfield, 300km north-east of the Russian capital, the official said.

Video footage filmed by a Ukrainian reconnaissance aircraft and shared by the official appeared to show one Russian airfield in flames and drones attacking several planes. In another video, the voice of SBU chief Vasyl Malyuk is heard approving the attacks.

According to people familiar with the operation, the attack, codenamed Spiderweb, was planned more than a year in advance and “personally supervised” by Zelenskyy. It used dozens of small “first-person view” drones armed with explosives.

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The SBU smuggled the drones into Russia, followed later by small wooden mobile cabins, the people said. The drones were then concealed under the roofs of the structures, which had been loaded on to lorries. On Sunday, the roofs were remotely opened and the drones launched towards Russian military airfields.

“This is exactly what we need to win the war, which is an asymmetric conflict — military creativity like that,” said Oleksandr Merezhko, head of the Ukrainian parliament’s foreign affairs committee.

In recent days Zelenskyy has blasted Putin for failing to provide a “memorandum” outlining Russia’s conditions for peace. The memo had been promised to Kyiv and Washington ahead of the next round of negotiations.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s delegation would again be led by defence minister Rustem Umerov and that Russia had received his terms already. The president said he was seeking a full and unconditional ceasefire, the release of all prisoners, the return of Ukrainian children forcibly taken to Russia and an agreement for him to meet Putin.

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“The key issues can only be resolved by the leaders,” he said.

Russia’s delegation will be led by Vladimir Medinsky, who headed up failed talks with Ukraine in the war’s early months in 2022 as well as the most recent meeting in Istanbul last month. Igor Kostyukov, head of Russia’s military intelligence agency, deputy foreign minister Mikhail Galuzin and deputy defence minister Alexander Fomin will also join the talks alongside a ground of Russian experts.

Moscow on Sunday launched 472 drones over Ukraine overnight in its largest drone attack since 2022, according to Ukraine’s air force. Explosions were reported in the cities of Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia, while air defences were activated over Kyiv.

Russian forces also launched three ballistic missiles and four cruise missiles, according to the Ukrainian air force, which said strikes had been recorded in 18 locations. Three cruise missiles and 382 drones were either shot down or jammed with electronic warfare devices.

One missile strike on a military training ground in the country’s east killed 12 people and injured more than 60. Ukrainian ground forces did not disclose the location of the strike or the missile used.

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Russian ground forces have stepped up their latest offensive in the Ukrainian region of Sumy, where they control at least 110 square kilometres of territory, according to DeepState, a war-monitoring group linked to the Ukrainian military.

Zelenskyy told reporters earlier this week that Moscow had gathered more than 50,000 troops in the area for a possible offensive towards the regional capital. Ukrainian authorities ordered the mandatory evacuation of 11 villages in the area.

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Manhattan Building’s Columns Buckled Beneath New Addition, Images Show

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Manhattan Building’s Columns Buckled Beneath New Addition, Images Show

At least two structural columns buckled and failed in a 37-story office tower in Midtown Manhattan on Tuesday, prompting evacuations of nearby streets and buildings. While city officials asserted that the tower was in no danger of collapsing completely, outside engineers said further failures in the structure could not be ruled out.

A pair of columns that failed completely were part of the tower’s existing structure. A New York Times review of images and videos from inside the building has found that several floors were added atop these columns.

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City officials said in a news conference on Tuesday that the building was continuing to move, while they simultaneously assured the city that the building would not suffer “total collapse.” “The way this building is constructed, it’s a steel-frame building,” John Esposito, a chief in the Fire Department in New York, said at the afternoon news conference. “So, it would not be a total collapse. It would be more of a localized collapse.” Still, he said, “that remains our concern, that it’s moved.”

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Engineers said that the movement itself was cause for concern. In a properly designed steel building, they said, loads should redistribute quickly to surviving structural supports if columns failed.

Joe DiPompeo, a former president of the Structural Engineering Institute at the American Society of Civil Engineers, said that if the structure had been overloaded, he would expect any movement “to happen very quickly,” rather than gradually.

“Generally when a column buckles, it’s a sudden failure,” Mr. DiPompeo said. He said that a full collapse remained unlikely given the redundancies built into the building codes.

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Engineers often refer to the most dangerous possibility as a progressive collapse, a process in which structures near the initial failure become overstressed and also fail, potentially bringing down the building if the sequence continues. While unlikely, it cannot be ruled out, Mr. DiPompeo said.

Footage recorded from inside the building shows at least two structural columns appear to have failed completely, Mr. DiPompeo said. Other nonstructural, interior walls — or at least the metal “studs” that were in place to hold them up — also appear to have deformed.

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“The only way that really happens is if the floor above them dropped. It looks like the floor above could have dropped a foot or two, which is obviously not a good situation,” Mr. DiPompeo said.

@fernando40tiktok.commarc via Storyful

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Image from @fernando40tiktok.commarc via Storyful

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Image from @Bogs4NY via X

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The 37-story building is in the process of being converted from office space into residential units. Four new floors and a large vertical portion were added onto the existing building in recent months. The vertical portion consists of a stack of over a dozen new floors cantilevered out over the existing building below.

Engineers said that there was nothing inherently wrong with adding residential floors or the cantilevered section above the columns that failed, as long as the original structure and the modifications had properly accounted for the added weight and wind loads.

“The cantilever alone doesn’t change anything,” Mr. DiPompeo said, but it does put additional load on the columns underneath — a factor that should have been reflected in the design.

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Nathan Berman, managing principal and founder of MetroLoft, the developer overseeing the conversion, said on Tuesday that “this incident is nothing more than a typical construction mishap.”

He said two columns near the northwest corner of the tower had bent under the weight of additions to the building above, most likely because those columns had not been properly reinforced, though he said an investigation would determine the cause. The rest of the columns, he said, “picked up the weight.” He estimated the affected floors above the failed columns had sagged by a maximum of four inches.

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Mr. Berman said that he expected the problems to be fixed and the project to be completed with, at most, a slight delay.

On Tuesday evening, installation of temporary shoring was set to begin shortly, in order to help stabilize the 20th and 21st floors of the building.

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DOJ warns of criminal charges for state election officials if noncitizens vote

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DOJ warns of criminal charges for state election officials if noncitizens vote

The Justice Department sent letters warning election officials in all 50 states and the District of Columbia that they could face criminal prosecution over noncitizen voting, a spokesperson for the Justice Department confirmed Tuesday.

The letters, signed by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who heads up the department’s Civil Rights Division, give states five days to explain how they will comply with federal voter eligibility laws and how they will maintain “clean voter lists.”

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“The Department sent these letters to all 50 states and the District of Columbia, asking for voluntary compliance in a timely manner with their obligations under federal law to ensure only citizens vote in federal elections,” a Justice Department spokesperson said in a statement.

Noncitizen voting in federal elections is extremely rare, but Trump and his administration have falsely portrayed it as a widespread issue.

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar and Utah Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson are among those who said they received the letters from the Justice Department.

The letters say state election officers “could be criminally prosecuted for aiding and abetting” noncitizen voting. They further specify that any election officer who knowingly retains noncitizens on a statewide voting registration list or who facilitates noncitizens’ receiving and casting ballots could be subject to criminal liability.

“An intentional act that is aimed at diluting the votes of citizens could also constitute a violation” of federal law, the letters said.

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Henderson wrote on social media that the threats constitute “truly bizarre behavior.”

“Got another love letter this morning from the DOJ sprinkled throughout with threats of criminal prosecution,” she wrote. “I’m sure I’m not the only chief election officer of a state who is being targeted for following state and federal laws by resisting DOJ’s demands for private voter data that have thus far been ruled illegal by at least a dozen courts.”

The letters are the latest move in the Justice Department’s campaign to assert more federal control over state elections.

While some states have complied with the administration’s demands that they hand over voter roll data, the Justice Department has sued 30 states and Washington, D.C., for resisting. So far, 11 different federal courts have dismissed the Justice Department’s efforts to seize voter rolls.

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Reigning champion Argentina escapes with remarkable World Cup victory over Egypt

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Reigning champion Argentina escapes with remarkable World Cup victory over Egypt

Lionel Messi #10 of Argentina celebrates scoring his team’s second goal during their World Cup match against Egypt in Atlanta on Tuesday.

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They looked beaten. And out. Argentina, the defending World Cup champion and No. 1-ranked team, was down 2-0 late against Egypt.

Then, in a span of 13 remarkable minutes, Argentina scored not once, not twice, but three times, capping a comeback for the ages and leaving Egypt stunned and shellshocked.

For much of the game in Atlanta, Egypt was in control, hobbling Argentina early. The Egyptian attack began almost immediately with a stunning header goal delivered by Yasser Ibrahim in the 15th minute. After that, Egypt’s defense closed ranks, making it practically impossible for Argentina to equalize.

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It was downhill from there for the Argentines: team captain Lionel Messi failed to convert a penalty kick, and in the 67th minute, Egypt got a second goal from Mostafa Ziko (after an earlier Egyptian goal had been disallowed after a video review). It looked like Argentina was finished. On the brink of elimination.

But no one told the Argentine players that.

In the 79th minute, Lionel Messi began doing his thing. He fired a cross near the Egyptian goal, and Cristian Romero headed it in. Messi was not done. Four minutes later, he powered a shot past the Egyptian keeper. It was his eighth goal of this tournament, the most of any player. The score was 2-2.

Then, in stoppage time, yet another Argentina header and another goal, this time from Enzo Fernandez.

“This is the World Cup for you,” said Messi after the game. “It wasn’t easy to come back from two goals down. But as I always say, this group never gives up. We always try to fight until the end.”

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French referee François Letexier speaks with Egypt forward Mohamed Salah during the World Cup Round of 16 match between Argentina and Egypt in Atlanta.

French referee François Letexier speaks with Egypt forward Mohamed Salah during the World Cup Round of 16 match between Argentina and Egypt in Atlanta.

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Afterward, Egypt coach Hossam Hassan complained about the French referee and the officiating. “I am not convinced. I am not convinced with this outcome. I’m not convinced with the way things unfolded during this match,” said Hassan in a post-match news conference. “We have been treated unfairly today. We have suffered injustice.”

“We would have deserved to earn this win, but we are leaving with honor, with pride, regardless of this defeat,” said Hossan.

African soccer teams have been the stars of this World Cup. Morocco has yet to lose a game. Cape Verde qualified for the first time in its history and stymied Spain, Uruguay and Saudi Arabia. Argentina barely beat them in a nail-biter of a match.

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