Vladimir Putin has visited the occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol, days after the Russian leader was served an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes.
Mr Putin arrived by helicopter late on Saturday and visited several districts of the city, which was largely laid to waste by Russia last year, and has been occupied by Moscow's forces since May.
He drove himself around the city’s memorial sites, concert hall and coastline, Russian news agencies said, without specifying when the visit took place.
Mr Putin also met residents in the city’s Nevskyi district, according to the reports.
The visit triggered an angry reaction from Ukraine, with a presidential aide blasting its "cynicism" and "lack of remorse".
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on Sunday that Mr Putin's visit to the occupied territory is a bid to "shore up" domestic support for the war amid what he called a "terrible showing" from Moscow's "underperforming military".
"It's certainly an indication, I think, that he knows he's not doing so well militarily there," Mr Kirby told MSNBC.
"And to try to make at least a visible case to the world that he's in control … so I think it's a lot of propaganda."
The visit comes before a trip to Moscow this week by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Beijing, a strategic ally of Moscow, has touted it as a "visit for peace" as it seeks to play mediator in the Ukraine conflict.
China has sought to position itself as a neutral party, urging Moscow and Kyiv to open negotiations.
But western leaders have repeatedly criticised Beijing for not condemning Russia's offensive.
Mr Putin's Mariupol trip, which took place "very late" on Saturday and in the early hours of Sunday, was "spontaneous", according to the Kremlin.
"It was all very spontaneous," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
"Movements around the city were not planned either," nor was his meeting with local residents, he said.
Speaking to the state RIA agency on Sunday, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin said Russia was in Mariupol to stay.
He said the government hoped to finish the reconstruction of its downtown area by the end of the year.
“People have started to return. When they saw that reconstruction is under way, people started actively returning,” Mr Khusnullin told RIA.
It was Mr Putin's first visit to one of four Ukrainian regions Russia claimed in September to have annexed as part of its invasion in February 2022.
He arrived in Crimea on Saturday to mark the ninth anniversary of the peninsula's annexation and took place almost a year to the day after a strike on a drama theatre there allegedly killed hundreds of civilians sheltering from air attack.
The Organisation for Security and Co-operation and Europe said Russia's alleged bombing of a maternity hospital in Mariupol was also a war crime.
The capture of Mariupol in May was Russia's first major victory after it failed to seize Kyiv and focused instead on south-eastern Ukraine.
An estimated 100,000 people remained at the time out of a prewar population of 450,000.
Many were trapped without food, water, heat or electricity. Relentless bombardment left rows upon rows of shattered or hollowed-out buildings.
Ukraine estimates about 20,000 civilians were killed in the city, including those in the theatre bombing.
Black Sea deal
In Ankara, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Moscow and Kyiv had agreed to extend a deal that allows Ukraine, a major grain exporter, to resume exports after its Black Sea ports were blocked by Russian warships.
The agreement was renewed for at least 60 days - half the intended period - after Russia warned any further extension beyond mid-May would depend on the removal of some Western sanctions.
The deal brokered by Turkey and the United Nations in July had already been extended for 120 days in November.
Arrest Warrant
The ICC accused Mr Putin of war crimes in illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine.
While Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made a number of trips to the battlefields to boost the morale of his troops and talk strategy, Mr Putin has largely remained in Russia.
In the Nevsky district of Mariupol, a new residential neighbourhood built by Russian military, Mr Putin visited a family in their home, Russian media reported.
“The head of state also examined the coastline of Mariupol in the area of the yacht club, the theatre building, memorable places of the city,” the Interfax agency said, quoting the Kremlin's press service.
Mariupol is in the Donetsk region, one of the four Russia moved in September to annex.
Kyiv and its western allies said the move was illegal.
Donetsk, together with the Luhansk region, comprise most of the Donbas industrialised part of Ukraine where the biggest battle in Europe for generations has been fought.
SPECS
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If you go
The flights
There are direct flights from Dubai to Sofia with FlyDubai (www.flydubai.com) and Wizz Air (www.wizzair.com), from Dh1,164 and Dh822 return including taxes, respectively.
The trip
Plovdiv is 150km from Sofia, with an hourly bus service taking around 2 hours and costing $16 (Dh58). The Rhodopes can be reached from Sofia in between 2-4hours.
The trip was organised by Bulguides (www.bulguides.com), which organises guided trips throughout Bulgaria. Guiding, accommodation, food and transfers from Plovdiv to the mountains and back costs around 170 USD for a four-day, three-night trip.
The specs
Engine: 3-litre twin-turbo V6
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KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
City's slump
L - Juventus, 2-0
D - C Palace, 2-2
W - N Forest, 3-0
L - Liverpool, 2-0
D - Feyenoord, 3-3
L - Tottenham, 4-0
L - Brighton, 2-1
L - Sporting, 4-1
L - Bournemouth, 2-1
L - Tottenham, 2-1
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Top New Zealand cop on policing the virtual world
New Zealand police began closer scrutiny of social media and online communities after the attacks on two mosques in March, the country's top officer said.
The killing of 51 people in Christchurch and wounding of more than 40 others shocked the world. Brenton Tarrant, a suspected white supremacist, was accused of the killings. His trial is ongoing and he denies the charges.
Mike Bush, commissioner of New Zealand Police, said officers looked closely at how they monitored social media in the wake of the tragedy to see if lessons could be learned.
“We decided that it was fit for purpose but we need to deepen it in terms of community relationships, extending them not only with the traditional community but the virtual one as well," he told The National.
"We want to get ahead of attacks like we suffered in New Zealand so we have to challenge ourselves to be better."
Evacuations to France hit by controversy
- Over 500 Gazans have been evacuated to France since November 2023
- Evacuations were paused after a student already in France posted anti-Semitic content and was subsequently expelled to Qatar
- The Foreign Ministry launched a review to determine how authorities failed to detect the posts before her entry
- Artists and researchers fall under a programme called Pause that began in 2017
- It has benefited more than 700 people from 44 countries, including Syria, Turkey, Iran, and Sudan
- Since the start of the Gaza war, it has also included 45 Gazan beneficiaries
- Unlike students, they are allowed to bring their families to France
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What sanctions would be reimposed?
Under ‘snapback’, measures imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council in six resolutions would be restored, including:
- An arms embargo
- A ban on uranium enrichment and reprocessing
- A ban on launches and other activities with ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons, as well as ballistic missile technology transfer and technical assistance
- A targeted global asset freeze and travel ban on Iranian individuals and entities
- Authorisation for countries to inspect Iran Air Cargo and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines cargoes for banned goods
The Voice of Hind Rajab
Starring: Saja Kilani, Clara Khoury, Motaz Malhees
Director: Kaouther Ben Hania
Rating: 4/5
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TEST SQUADS
Bangladesh: Mushfiqur Rahim (captain), Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Imrul Kayes, Liton Das, Shakib Al Hasan, Mominul Haque, Nasir Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Mehedi Hasan, Shafiul Islam, Taijul Islam, Mustafizur Rahman and Taskin Ahmed.
Australia: Steve Smith (captain), David Warner, Ashton Agar, Hilton Cartwright, Pat Cummins, Peter Handscomb, Matthew Wade, Josh Hazlewood, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Matt Renshaw, Mitchell Swepson and Jackson Bird.
Various Artists
Habibi Funk: An Eclectic Selection Of Music From The Arab World (Habibi Funk)
HIJRA
Starring: Lamar Faden, Khairiah Nathmy, Nawaf Al-Dhufairy
Director: Shahad Ameen
Rating: 3/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Akeed
Based: Muscat
Launch year: 2018
Number of employees: 40
Sector: Online food delivery
Funding: Raised $3.2m since inception
Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
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Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
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Price: From Dh590,000
Results
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Who is Mohammed Al Halbousi?
The new speaker of Iraq’s parliament Mohammed Al Halbousi is the youngest person ever to serve in the role.
The 37-year-old was born in Al Garmah in Anbar and studied civil engineering in Baghdad before going into business. His development company Al Hadeed undertook reconstruction contracts rebuilding parts of Fallujah’s infrastructure.
He entered parliament in 2014 and served as a member of the human rights and finance committees until 2017. In August last year he was appointed governor of Anbar, a role in which he has struggled to secure funding to provide services in the war-damaged province and to secure the withdrawal of Shia militias. He relinquished the post when he was sworn in as a member of parliament on September 3.
He is a member of the Al Hal Sunni-based political party and the Sunni-led Coalition of Iraqi Forces, which is Iraq’s largest Sunni alliance with 37 seats from the May 12 election.
He maintains good relations with former Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki’s State of Law Coaliton, Hadi Al Amiri’s Badr Organisation and Iranian officials.
FIGHT%20CARD
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