𝕁𝕦𝕤𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕖 ℕ𝕖𝕨𝕤
A journalist with the Wall Street Journal — Evan Gershkovich — has been arrested in Russia on suspicion of espionage, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) says.
An FSB statement said: “The illegal activities of the correspondent of the Moscow bureau of the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal, US citizen Evan Gershkovich, born in 1991, accredited at the Russian Foreign Ministry, suspected of espionage in the interests of the American government, have been suppressed.”
State news agency TASS reported he was detained in Yekaterinburg, on the eastern side of the Ural Mountains.
Residents of the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol were woken up by “powerful blasts in the north of the city” in the early hours of Wednesday morning, local Ukrainian media outlet RIA Melitopol reported.
RIA Melitopol said on the encrypted messaging app Telegram that there were about 10 strikes and people reported seeing a “glow” near a local airfield.
“The occupiers no longer deny that these are strikes by the Armed Forces of Ukraine rather than their own air defense,” it added.
The US and China remain at odds over Taiwan, which is seen by Beijing as an essential part of Chinese territory. Washington-Beijing tensions escalated following what China described as a “provocative” visit by then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan last year.
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen left Taipei on Wednesday for a 10-day tour of Central America, during which she is due to visit Taiwan’s allies, Guatemala and Belize.
The tour will see Tsai’s planned unofficial stopovers in the US, where she is expected to meet with congressional leaders including House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, has arrived at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), according to Ukraine’s state nuclear power plant operator Energoatom.
It is the second time that Grossi has visited the nuclear power plant since it was occupied by Russian forces.
“This time, Rafael Grossi plans to see how the situation at ZNPP has changed, talk to the nuclear workers who operate it, and also guarantee the rotation of members of the Agency’s permanent mission, which has been working at Zaporizhzhia NPP since September 2022,” Energoatom said on Telegram.
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South Korea (Tribune News Service) — Kim Jong Un said North Korea is ready to use nuclear weapons “anytime and anywhere,” delivering a new threat as a U.S. aircraft carrier group arrives in South Korea.
Kim made the comments while visiting a facility producing nuclear bombs, the official Korean Central News Agency reported Tuesday. State media released images of Kim standing with military officials among his arsenal of warheads.
Kim reiterated his call to exponentially increase North Korea’s nuclear arsenal, which “is aimed to defend the eternal security of the state and the regional peace and stability from A to Z.” The visit to the facility came as North Korea has rolled out new weapons to deliver nuclear strikes in recent weeks and pledged an unprecedented response to joint military drills between the United States and South Korea.
The terror threat level in Northern Ireland has increased from “substantial” to “severe” meaning an attack is highly likely, the government has said.
Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris told the House of Commons that the decision was made by MI5, independent of ministers.
He cited a “small number” of individuals who remain determined to use “politically motivated violence” – pointing to the attempted murder of DCI Caldwell.
In a written ministerial statement he said: “MI5 has increased the threat to Northern Ireland from Northern Ireland Related Terrorism from ‘SUBSTANTIAL’ (an attack is likely) to ‘SEVERE’ (an attack is highly likely).
“The public should remain vigilant, but not be alarmed, and continue to report any concerns they have to the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).”
Germany has faced criticism during the war for an apparent reluctance to send heavy weaponry to Ukraine. It eventually decided to send battle tanks to Kyiv in January, with the U.S. also pledging to send tanks. The U.K. was the first country to pledge tanks to Ukraine early on in the new year.
In other news, Russia’s Pacific Fleet fired supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles at a mock target in the Sea of Japan, the Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday. The combat exercise saw Russia fire Moskit cruise missiles — supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles — at a “mock enemy.” It said the target was hit.
Japan’s foreign minister said his country would remain vigilant against Moscow’s military operations.
