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Ukrainian stronghold Vuhledar falls to Russian offensive after two years of bombardment

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Ukrainian stronghold Vuhledar falls to Russian offensive after two years of bombardment

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Russian troops on Wednesday took the eastern Ukrainian town of Vuhledar in the Donetsk region after it withstood more than two years of attacks following the Kremlin’s invasion.

The eventual seizure of the town signifies Russia’s leg up when it comes to the sheer manpower advantage it has over Ukraine, as Kyiv continues to plead with the West for more and faster supplies of weaponry. 

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A Ukrainian service member rides a tank near Vuhledar, Feb. 22, 2023. (Reuters/Alex Babenko)

LITHUANIAN FM WARNS RUSSIA CAN DO ‘SO MUCH DAMAGE TO ITS NEIGHBORS’

A press officer from the 72nd Mechanized Brigade of Ukraine’s Armed Forces – a unit known for its hardy resistance – said according to a translation provided by Pravda Ukraine on Thursday that the wounded soldiers were successfully evacuated, but under “very difficult” conditions.

“The enemy pressed from the flanks, complicating logistics significantly,” Arsenii Prylipka told the news outlet before adding, “This is war. It is impossible to have no losses.” 

Prylipka highlighted the strain of the situation and said the commanding officer was forced to make a decision amid heavy fighting.

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“They are continually striking, controlling, and complicating logistics, so a decision is made right on the battlefield,” he added, rebuffing any question that criticized the decision to withdraw from the coal mining town.

Ukraine’s eastern military command said it had ordered a pullback from the town to prevent Russian troops from encircling its forces positioned in Vuhledar and to “preserve personnel and military equipment,” reported Reuters. 

Apartment buildings damaged by a Russian military strike in Vuhledar in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, Oct. 10, 2023. (Reuters/Yevhen Titov)

BIDEN PLEDGES $8 BILLION TO UKRAINE FOLLOWING PUTIN’S PROPOSED CHANGES TO NUCLEAR RULES

Though the town reportedly had a population of some 14,000 before Russia’s invasion in February 2022, it has been a frontline town since the start of the war, with the majority of the town’s residents having long since evacuated. 

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Images show the beating the town has received after undergoing more than two years of Russian bombardment, many of the buildings not only abandoned, but smoke-covered and crumbling.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said his war aim is to take the whole of the Donbas region from Ukraine, and his troops currently occupy an estimated 80% of it. 

The last of the Ukrainian troops to withdraw from Vuhledar left Tuesday night, reported Reuters. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday backed the decision by the commanding officer to withdraw his brigade from the town.

Members of the 1st Independent Tank Brigade near Vuhledar, in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, March 6, 2023.  (Reuters/Lisi Niesner)

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“It is necessary to protect their lives, because they are more important than any buildings. These are our people, these are citizens of Ukraine,” he said in response to a question by a reporter about the withdrawal following a meeting with the new NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. 

“Therefore, it is very correct that they leave and can save themselves. For the sake of the state, for the sake of its heroic service,” he added.

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Video: Ebola Comes for Congo’s Most Vulnerable Children

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Video: Ebola Comes for Congo’s Most Vulnerable Children

new video loaded: Ebola Comes for Congo’s Most Vulnerable Children

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Ebola Comes for Congo’s Most Vulnerable Children

The arrival of a sick newborn at Saint Nicholas Orphanage in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo set off an Ebola outbreak that quickly spread among the country’s most vulnerable. Local health authorities are now monitoring the children’s home, but at least two babies have already died.

These Congolese children are re-entering the world after five days of isolation. It’s the first year of their lives, and they’re at the center of a deadly Ebola outbreak. The babies are all orphans who were brought to this hospital after showing symptoms of the virus. They’ve just tested negative and are being taken to a temporary home. But at least two other babies from the same orphanage have died. What happened to them has been a worst-case scenario for health officials trying to stop Ebola from spreading to young children. The alarms went off in late May here at Saint Nicholas children’s home after the arrival of a newborn girl, Patience, who quickly developed a fever. We were given a tour of the orphanage, where nearly 70 children plus their caretakers live. A pediatrician tracked baby Patience’s mother’s case and learned that she had Ebola when she died. Days later, Patience died, too. She was 9 days old. This was one of the last photos taken of her while she was still alive. It’s unclear whether the family knew she could be infected. The relative who brought her to Saint Nicholas declined to talk to us when we reached him by phone. By the time anyone at the orphanage understood the danger, some of the staff had already held and cared for Patience. Soon, more children were showing symptoms of the virus. When we visited the Ebola treatment ward, this 10-month-old seemed to be getting better. Baby Elysée was being cared for by Sister Cecile Nube, one of three staff members at the orphanage who also tested positive. Even while sick herself, Sister Nube stayed by Elysée’s side, feeding her, giving her medicine and watching over her. Elisée died 24 hours after we met her. A reminder of how quickly the disease can turn, especially for babies. Now Saint Nicholas is under quarantine. Every day, contact tracers visit the orphanage, checking the children and their caretakers for fevers. “Some of them today are presenting a little bit higher temperature, but they are OK at the moment.” The concern is that one infection here could quickly become many. “It could have been a recipe of disaster. It’s a very classic situation where Ebola can very fastly devastate the community. They are playing together and they are spending the whole day together. So it’s spreading from one person to the next. And for zero time you’ll see the entire community being infected.” For now, the orphanage remains under watch. It’s still a refuge for children who need shelter and care even as every new symptom raises the fear that the virus could still be spreading.

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The arrival of a sick newborn at Saint Nicholas Orphanage in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo set off an Ebola outbreak that quickly spread among the country’s most vulnerable. Local health authorities are now monitoring the children’s home, but at least two babies have already died.

By Bethlehem Feleke, Michael Anthony Adams, Yasu Tsuji and Jon Hazell

June 13, 2026

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Mexican authorities discover body in trunk near Iranian soccer team’s World Cup training grounds: report

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Mexican authorities discover body in trunk near Iranian soccer team’s World Cup training grounds: report

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Mexican authorities discovered a decomposing corpse with “signs of violence” near Tijuana’s Caliente Stadium, where the Iranian national soccer team is training during the World Cup, according to a New York Post report.

Authorities responded to complaints about a bad smell wafting from a gray Toyota SUV with California plates parked in a grocery store parking lot near the stadium, the Post reported.

“Upon inspecting the vehicle, they found a person wrapped in a black bag in the trunk, showing signs of violence,” a spokesperson for the Tijuana prosecutor’s office told the Post.

According to the report, the car had a damaged back end and was equipped with a license plate holder from a Tijuana car dealership.

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HIDDEN TUNNEL DISCOVERED IN TIJUANA MAY HAVE SUPPORTED CROSS-BORDER TRAFFICKING OPERATIONS

Forensic workers inspect a car where a body was allegedly found at a parking lot close to Caliente stadium, where Iran’s national football team trains, in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico on June 12, 2026. (Guillermo Arias / AFP via Getty Images)

Mexican officials could be seen wearing white jumpsuits while collecting evidence from the car in photos taken from the scene.

Forensic workers inspect a car where a body was allegedly found at a parking lot close to Caliente stadium, where Iran’s national football team trains, in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico on June 12, 2026. (Guillermo Arias / AFP via Getty Images)

TSUNAMI OF SEWAGE FROM MEXICO BARRELS TOWARD US COASTLINE, OFFICIALS WARN

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Tijuana, located just across the U.S.-Mexico border from San Diego, California, is frequently rated as one of the most violent cities in the world.

Iran soccer players pose for a team photo before a friendly match against Costa Rica in Antalya, Turkey, on March 31, 2026. (Riza Ozel/AP)

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Iran’s national team is training at Caliente Stadium in preparation for their upcoming World Cup game against New Zealand in Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium on Monday.

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Trump announces Iran peace deal could be signed on Sunday

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Trump announces Iran peace deal could be signed on Sunday

Ahead of attending the long-awaited G7 summit in Évian, US President Donald Trump has announced a peace deal with Iran could be finalised on Sunday, paving the way for the opening of the Strait of Hormuz.

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“The Deal is scheduled to get signed tomorrow, and immediately after it is signed, the Hormuz Strait is OPEN TO ALL,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform on Saturday.

Donald Trump also says the US will take Iran’s enriched uranium ‘dust’ when ‘all is calm’.

Trump’s statement, however, ran counter to Iran’s foreign ministry which indicated earlier in the day that the deal would not be signed on Sunday, according to state media reports.

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Earlier, Pakistan’s prime minister said on Saturday that a peace deal between the United States and Iran is likely to be finalised within the next 24 hours.

Writing on X, Shehbaz Sharif said: “We are closer to a peace deal than ever before”.

But Trump’s post also contained a warning to the Islamic Republic to fully implement the plan or face serious consequences.

“Hopefully, this process will all work out quickly, easily, and smoothly,” the US president wrote. “If it doesn’t, we have the ultimate alternative, hopefully never to be used again!”

Throughout the negotiations Iran has insisted on its right to enrich uranium.

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Trump’s post does not mention Israel and the war in Lebanon, nor the US blockade of Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz which so far have been the Iranian leadership’s two key demands for any peace agreement.

Trump appears to offer an olive branch to the Iranian leadership by saying that the “relationship with Iran is a much different and better one than previous administrations had,” and that “we look forward to working with Iran, and the entire Middle East, long into the future,” signalling a significant change in the US messaging after the prior threatening statements.

Trump mentions “hopefully” when he expresses his wish for the process to “work out quickly, easily and smoothly,” given how complicated the peace negotiations have been, and he states that military options remain on the table, calling it “the ultimate alternative,” which he hopes “never to be used again.” Another key Iranian demand has been the assurance that the US and Israel will never attack Iran again.

The status of US-Iran talks aimed at ending the Middle East war will be a dominant concern at the G7 summit, as will the be the war in Ukraine.

Trump to work with Zelenskyy, says official

Trump will take part in a G7 working session with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky in France on Tuesday, but no bilateral meeting between the two is scheduled, a senior administration official said.

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“On Tuesday morning, President Trump will participate in a working session with G7 leaders and President Zelensky of Ukraine,” the official told reporters Saturday on condition of anonymity.

The G7 summit will take place in Evian on June 15-17, and Trump is scheduled to hold bilateral meetings on its sidelines with French President Emmanuel Macron, as well as the leaders of Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and India, the official said.

Trump is also scheduled to dine at the Versailles palace west of Paris with Macron on Wednesday evening, after the summit wraps up.

The dinner is a way to celebrate the 250th anniversary of American independence in a “landmark of Franco-American friendship where the treaty establishing the independence of the United States was signed in 1783,” according to Macron’s office.

Trump has shifted his attention away from efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war since the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran in late February.

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