Month: September 2023

A wealthy Russian businessman with ties to the Kremlin was sentenced Thursday to nine years in prison for his role in a nearly $100 million stock market cheating scheme that relied on secret earnings information stolen through the hacking of U.S. computer networks. Vladislav Klyushin, who ran a Moscow-based information technology company that did work for the highest levels of the Russian government, was convicted in February of charges that include wire fraud and securities fraud after a two-week trial in federal court in Boston. Authorities say he personally pocketed more than $33 million in the scheme, which involved breaking …

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Britain is rejoining the European Union’s science-sharing program Horizon Europe, the two sides announced Thursday, more than two years after membership became a casualty of Brexit. British scientists expressed relief at the decision, the latest sign of thawing relations between the EU and its former member. After months of negotiations, the British government said the country was becoming a “fully associated member” of the research collaboration body. U.K.-based scientists can bid for Horizon funding starting Thursday and will be able to lead Horizon-backed science projects starting in 2024. Britain is also rejoining Copernicus, the EU space program’s Earth observation component. …

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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited a Ukrainian border guard site on the outskirts of Kyiv Thursday as he opened the final day of an unannounced two-day visit. The tour included presenting four U.S.-provided mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles that are part of a group of 190 of the vehicles to be delivered in coming months. Blinken also met with a Ukrainian team working to clear unexploded Russian ordnance at a farm where corn was grown for export. “What’s hard to get our minds around is that one third of Ukrainian territory has mines or unexploded ordnance on it,” Blinken said.   …

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Russia is criticizing a new U.S. aid package for Ukraine that includes depleted uranium tank ammunition, saying the decision to send the rounds “is a clear sign of inhumanity.” Russia’s embassy in Washington said on Telegram Wednesday that the United States is “deliberately transferring weapons with indiscriminate effects” and that it is fully aware of potential health and safety consequences from the ammunition. The tank rounds could help Ukrainian forces destroy Russian tanks and have previously been provided to Ukraine by Britain. Pentagon spokesperson Marine Corps Lt. Col. Garron Garn defended the use of the munitions in a statement to …

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The Ukrainian military said Thursday its air defenses destroyed 25 of 33 drones that Russia used to attack the Sumy and Odesa regions overnight. Oleh Kiper, the regional governor of Odesa, said the Russian attack hit the Izmail area for the fourth time in five days, injuring one person. Kiper said the attack also damaged port infrastructure facilities and an administrative building. Russia’s Defense Ministry said it destroyed two Ukrainian drones over the Rostov region, as well as one in Bryansk and another on the outskirts of Moscow. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram that debris from a downed …

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After hitting several resets, restoring historic treasures to former colonies, downsizing its military presence and striking new ties elsewhere on the continent, France’s Africa strategy seems at an impasse, some experts say. Coups in half a dozen former French colonies in West and Central Africa over three years — including two, in Niger and Gabon, in just over a month — are sparking fresh soul searching about what went wrong and how, if possible, to put longstanding relations and interests back on track.  Yet many suggest Paris can no longer call the shots, as some African governments cut ties altogether …

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At a critical moment in Ukraine’s counteroffensive, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has ordered a changing of the guard, naming Rustem Umerov as the country’s new defense minister.  On Wednesday, 338 of the 360 members of the Ukrainian parliament endorsed Umerov, a Crimean Tatar businessman, and a former parliamentarian. Observers see the replacement as part of Zelenskyy’s efforts to address corruption in his administration as the Ukrainian military strives to retake southern Ukraine and areas near the Crimean Peninsula. A long-time financial supporter of the Crimean Tatar community and father of three, Umerov, a practicing Muslim, became a Member of the Ukrainian …

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Israeli archaeologists on Wednesday displayed four Roman-era swords and a javelin discovered inside a cave in the Judean desert, where they had been preserved for nearly 1,900 years. The archaeologists said the ancient weapons were believed to have been used during the Bar Kokhba revolt of Jews against the Romans in the second century. “It’s a very unique and important discovery, which is unprecedented in Israel,” Eitan Klein, director of Israel Antiquities Authority, told journalists at an event showcasing the weapons. “We suppose that Jewish rebels took the weapons as booty from Roman units or they were collected in the …

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