Russian missile attack targets historic buildings in Odesa, wounding seven
Russian missile attack targets historic buildings in Odesa, wounding seven/node/2588584/world
Russian missile attack targets historic buildings in Odesa, wounding seven
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Ukrainian rescuers work to extinguish a fire in a residential building in Sumy following a Russian missile attack on Jan. 30, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service handout photo via AFP)
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The damaged interior of the Bristol Hotel in the city historic centre is seen after a Russian rocket attack in Odesa, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
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Ukrainian rescuers remove rubble from a residential building in Sumy following a missile attack on Jan. 30, 2025. (Ukrainian Emergency Service handout photo via AFP)
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Updated 01 February 2025
AFP
Russian missile attack targets historic buildings in Odesa, wounding seven
The Black Sea city known for its picturesque streets of 19th-century buildings is regularly targeted by Russian strikes, often on its port area
Russian military bloggers alleged that foreign military specialists were staying in the hotel that was targetted
Updated 01 February 2025
AFP
KYIV: A Russian missile attack struck the center of the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa on Friday evening, wounding at least seven people and damaging historic buildings, officials said.
The Black Sea city known for its picturesque streets of 19th-century buildings is regularly targeted by Russian strikes, often on its port area.
“Currently, seven people are known to have been injured in the attack by Russian terrorists on the historical center of Odesa,” the regional governor Oleg Kiper wrote on social media.
All were in “moderate” condition, he said, and receiving medical assistance.
Kiper said in earlier posts that two women and a child were among the wounded.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned what he called an “absolutely deliberate attack by Russian terrorists,” saying it was fortunate that it caused no deaths.
Kiper posted photos showing rescuers wheeling a woman on a stretcher outside the city’s historic Hotel Bristol. The photos also show damage to the 19th-century hotel’s ornate facade and interior, including a grand staircase.
Ukraine’s emergency service posted video showing debris littering the street outside the Bristol and a woman with dust on her clothes being helped by rescuers.
It said firefighters had rescued a woman trapped in her room on the second floor and extinguished a fire on the roof.
“Among the people who were at the epicenter of the attack were Norwegian diplomatic representatives,” Zelensky said.
“There is a lot of damage and destruction in the UNESCO-protected area,” Odesa’s mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov said.
Odesa’s historic center is on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
Its Transfiguration Cathedral — destroyed by the Soviets and rebuilt in the 2000s — was badly damaged by a Russian strike in July 2023.
“As a result of the explosions, a number of historical monuments, including the Literary, Historical and Local Lore, Archaeological Museums, Museum of Western and Eastern Art, and the Philharmonic, have had their windows smashed and their facades damaged,” Kiper said.
Ukrainian media posted photos showing what appeared to be a large crater near the hotel, and fallen masonry, blown-out windows and debris littering the floor inside.
Russian military bloggers alleged that foreign military specialists were staying in the hotel.
Trump to slam ‘globalist’ bodies, Palestinian recognitions at UN
Trump has repeatedly criticized the UN and other multilateral institutions as part of his ‘America First’ policy
Trump will meanwhile hold a ‘multilateral meeting’ with the leaders of key Muslim countries at the UN assembly
Updated 22 September 2025
AFP
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump will hit out at “globalist institutions” and criticize the recognition of a Palestinian state by Western allies in a speech to the United Nations, the White House said Monday.
Trump is set to deliver the first speech of his second term to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, as the annual diplomatic gathering is dominated by Israel’s war in Gaza.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump would tout “the renewal of American strength around the world” in his address.
“The president will also touch upon how globalist institutions have significantly decayed the world order, and he will articulate his straightforward and constructive vision for the world,” she added.
Trump has repeatedly criticized the UN and other multilateral institutions as part of his “America First” policy, and either cut funding for or withdrawn from a number of UN bodies.
Trump will meanwhile hold a “multilateral meeting” with the leaders of key Muslim countries at the UN assembly, including Qatar, , Indonesia, Turkiye, Pakistan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan, Leavitt told a briefing.
The move comes after several Western governments recognized a Palestinian state, angering Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who will speak at the UN on Friday, has vowed to expand Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank after the recognitions.
Trump himself opposed the moves by Britain, Canada and Australia to recognize the state of Palestine, which France is due to follow on Monday.
“The president has been very clear he disagrees with this decision,” Leavitt said, noting that he had publicly done so with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer during a UK state visit last week.
“Frankly, he believes it’s a reward to Hamas. So he believes these decisions are just more talk and not enough action from some of our friends and allies, and I think you’ll hear him talk about that tomorrow” at the UN, she added.
Trump will also meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the UN gathering, Leavitt said, as Kyiv seeks Western-backed security guarantees to prop up an elusive ceasefire with Russia.
In addition, the US president will meet Argentinian counterpart and key ally Javier Milei, a day after the US Treasury said it was mulling an economic lifeline for Argentina as it battles to calm jittery markets.
Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a Security Council meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Monday, Sept. 22, 2025. (AP
Updated 22 September 2025
Reuters
Putin offers Trump one-year extension to nuclear weapons treaty
The treaty caps the number of deployed strategic nuclear warheads at 1,550 and the number of delivery vehicles — missiles, submarines and bombers — at 700 on each side
Russia and the United States have by far the biggest nuclear arsenals in the world, and many experts fear that ending the limits could fuel an arms race as both sides boost strategic weapons deployments
Updated 22 September 2025
Reuters
MOSCOW/WASHINGTON: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday offered to voluntarily maintain the limits on deployed strategic nuclear weapons set in the 2010 New START accord after it expires in February if the US agreed to do the same.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Putin’s proposal sounded “pretty good,” but she added that US President Donald Trump would address the offer himself. The agreement is the last US-Russia strategic nuclear arms control accord.
It allowed for only one five-year extension, which Putin and former US President Joe Biden agreed to implement in 2021. The offer, which comes as Ukraine tries to convince Trump to impose harsher sanctions on Russia, was made public by Putin at a meeting of his Security Council.
HIGHLIGHTS
• US-Russia arms control treaty due to expire in February
• Treaty limits nuclear weapons in both countries
• Putin proposes a one-year rollover if Trump does same
“Russia is prepared to continue adhering to the central numerical limits under the New START Treaty for one year after February 5, 2026,” he said.
“Subsequently, based on an analysis of the situation, we will make a decision on whether to maintain these voluntary, self-imposed restrictions.” Trump in July said he would like to maintain the limits on deployed strategic nuclear weapons set in the 2010 New START pact after it expires on February 5. Russia and the United States have by far the biggest nuclear arsenals in the world, and many experts fear that ending the limits could fuel an arms race as both sides boost strategic weapons deployments. The treaty caps the number of deployed strategic nuclear warheads at 1,550 and the number of delivery vehicles — missiles, submarines and bombers — at 700 on each side.
PUTIN UNDER PRESSURE TO END UKRAINE WAR
Putin said his proposal was in the interests of global non-proliferation and could help spur dialogue with Washington about arms control.
“This measure will only be viable if the United States acts in a similar manner, and does not take steps that undermine or violate the existing balance of deterrence capabilities,” Putin said. He has been under pressure from Trump to agree to end the war in Ukraine, something Moscow says is part of a slew of security issues that have raised East-West tensions to their most dangerous level since the Cold War.
The proposal appears to be a unilateral change of policy by Moscow, which has until now insisted it would only engage with Washington on such matters if overall ties — hampered by stark differences over the war in Ukraine — improved.
TALKS ON OVERHAULING TREATY YET TO START
Differences over Ukraine mean the two superpowers have not started talks on renewing or overhauling the treaty, though Trump has spoken of his desire to do a new nuclear arms control deal, albeit with China as well.
Beijing has rejected the idea that it should be included.
Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association advocacy group, said Putin’s offer was “a positive and welcome move.”
Urging Washington to reciprocate, Kimball said Trump and Putin could “help reduce the most immediate existential security threat facing the world.”
Putin said Russia would be monitoring US nuclear arms and defense activity, paying particular attention to plans to beef up missile defenses and proposals to deploy missile interceptors in space.
“The practical implementation of such destabilising actions could nullify our efforts to maintain the status quo in the field of START,” said Putin. “We will respond accordingly.”
Konstantin Kosachyov, a senior Russian senator, said Putin was sending a message to the US that he was ready to enter talks on a new arms control treaty.
“I hope that this signal will be heard and correctly interpreted,” Kosachyov said on Telegram.
Gifted Gazan students set to arrive in UK to take up scholarships at British universities
They include Palestinian recipients of the Chevening scholarship, a highly competitive program for foreign students that aims to recognize potential leaders
Officials say the support recognizes the roles the students might play in eventual reconstruction of the territory and building a better future for Israelis and Palestinians
Updated 22 September 2025
Arab News
LONDON: Gazan students awarded prestigious scholarships to study in the UK will begin arrive in the country this autumn, after support from the British government enabled them to leave the war-torn territory, ministers said on Monday.
They include Palestinian recipients of the Chevening scholarship, a highly competitive program for foreign students that aims to recognize potential leaders, and other gifted individuals, and provide them with fully funded places on undergraduate and master’s degree courses at leading UK universities.
Officials said the educational support for Gazan students is recognition of the roles they might play in the eventual reconstruction of the territory and building a better future for Israelis and Palestinians.
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the conflict in Gaza had devastated education, and praised students for their “incredible resilience and unwavering determination” to continue their studies.
She thanked the government’s international partners, including the Jordanian government and Israeli authorities, for helping the students to leave Gaza, adding: “Our support also reflects the UK’s commitment to the future of postwar Gaza, where educating the next generation will play a vital role.”
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said she was “relieved” the students will be able to study in safety.
“These students have lived through an appalling ordeal, with many losing loved ones and having their studies torn apart by the devastating impact of war,” she said.
“Education offers hope and opportunity and we are determined to ensure that all young people, whatever their circumstances, are able to benefit from it.”
The government said the move was part of wider UK efforts to help vulnerable groups leave Gaza amid the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in the enclave.
British authorities officially recognized a Palestinian state on Sunday, and continue to call for an immediate ceasefire agreement in the territory, the release of all hostages, unrestricted deliveries of humanitarian aid, and a pathway to long-term peace in the wider conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
Palestinian mission in UK celebrates statehood recognition, raises flag in London
Palestinian ambassador says British recognition comes at a time of ‘unimaginable pain and suffering’ for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank
First Minister of Scotland John Swinney attended the event along with former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn
Palestine, a former British colony for nearly 30 years, was never recognized when the mandate ended, despite the UK’s recognition of the fledgling State of Israel in 1950
LONDON: Palestinians marked the announcement of the UK government’s formal recognition of the State of Palestine with a flag-hoisting ceremony attended by senior UK officials, members of Parliament, ambassadors, and members of the Palestinian community on Monday.
The official ceremony in the London borough of Hammersmith featured a speech by Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian ambassador, outside the Palestine Mission to the UK, soon to be upgraded into an embassy.
“In the same capital of the Balfour Declaration, after more than a century of ongoing denial, dispossession and erasure, the UK government has finally taken the long overdue step of recognizing the State of Palestine,” Zomlot began his speech.
Palestine, a former British colony for nearly 30 years, was never recognized when the mandate ended, despite the UK’s recognition of the fledgling State of Israel in 1950, an entity that was envisioned in the Balfour Declaration of 1917, which promised to establish a homeland for the Jewish people in Palestine.
This moment stands as a defiant act of truth, a refusal to let genocide be the final word; a refusal to accept that occupation is permanent
Husam Zomlot, Palestinian ambassador
The historic and long-awaited decision was announced on Sunday by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who described it as “a pledge to the Palestinian and Israeli people that there can be a better future.”
It marks a shift in policy in the UK and some European countries, which have long stated that recognizing Palestine will occur only at the conclusion of peace negotiations. Hamas attacks in October 2023, followed by an ongoing campaign of vengeance by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip, signaled to Starmer that “the hope for a two-state solution is fading.”
Zomlot said that British recognition comes at a critical time of “unimaginable pain and suffering” for Palestinians, a population of 5.5 million in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Since August, Israeli forces have conducted a demolition campaign targeting high-rise buildings in Gaza City, continuing nearly two years of assaults on the coastal enclave, where over 65,000 people have been killed. Officials from the UN and the EU, along with the mayor of London, have recently described Israeli actions in Gaza as genocide. In the West Bank, the Israeli government announced its approval of the E1 settlement, which would divide the territory in half and severely undermine any hope for a Palestinian state.
The Palestinian Mission to the UK in London held a special ceremony on Monday to mark British recognition of Palestinian statehood. (AN Photo/Mustafa Abu Sneineh)
“It comes as our people in Gaza are being starved, bombed, and buried under the rubble of their homes; as our people in the West Bank are being ethnically cleansed, brutalized by daily state-sponsored terrorism, land theft and suffocating oppression,” Zomlot said.
Palestinians hope that the UK’s recognition will be more than merely “symbolic” and will contribute to a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that has embroiled the Middle East since 1948.
The UK, a permanent member of the Security Council and a G7 country, joined Canada, Australia, and Portugal on Sunday in recognizing Palestinian statehood, while France is expected to follow suit this week at the UN General Assembly.
“This moment stands as a defiant act of truth, a refusal to let genocide be the final word; a refusal to accept that occupation is permanent; a refusal to be erased and a refusal to be dehumanized,” Zomlot said.
“(It is) righting historic wrongs and committing together to a future based on freedom, dignity and fundamental human rights.”
A defining moment in securing self-determination for Palestine and peace through a two-state solution
John Swinney, Scotland’s first minister
The impassioned speech quoted the famous lines, “On This Land, There Are Reasons to Live,” a poem by the national poet Mahmoud Darwish.
“Please join me as we raise the flag of Palestine with its colors representing our nation: black for our mourning, white for our hope, green for our land and red for the sacrifices of our people,” Zomlot concluded.
John Swinney, the first minister of Scotland, attended the event along with former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Swinney wrote on X that it was “a defining moment in securing self-determination for Palestine and peace through a two-state solution.”
Corbyn, an independent MP, congratulated those “who have tirelessly campaigned for the recognition of Palestine,” which he described as an “inalienable right” of the Palestinian people, in a post on the X platform.
He called on the UK government to “recognize the genocide in Gaza, end its complicity in crimes against humanity, and stop arming Israel.”
and France are co-hosting a one-day event at the UN in New York this week to advance the two-state solution, as more countries are expected to recognize the State of Palestine.
Edi Rama: ‘Diella never sleeps, she doesn’t need to be paid, she has no personal interests, she has no cousins, because cousins are a big issue in Albania’
Appointment made headlines, something the PM excels at whether by attending international meetings in sneakers, announcing a TikTok ban, or creating a Bektashi State
Updated 22 September 2025
AFP
TIRANA, Albania: Last week, Albania announced that an AI-generated minister would take charge of a new public tenders portfolio.
“Diella” is touted as the world’s first virtual minister, and Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama promised the appointment would end rampant corruption in government contracts — a major obstacle to the Balkan nation’s accession to the European Union.
But serious technical, political and ethical questions have been raised about the virtual lawmaker.
Truly incorruptible?
In announcing Diella’s appointment, Rama claimed that public tenders would now be “100 percent free of corruption.”
“Diella never sleeps, she doesn’t need to be paid, she has no personal interests, she has no cousins, because cousins are a big issue in Albania,” according to the prime minister, whose country ranks 80th out of 180 in Transparency International’s corruption index.
Albanian politicians are frequently implicated in corruption scandals linked to public funds.
The former mayor of the capital Tirana was detained while in office and remains in custody, suspected of corruption in connection with the awarding of government contracts.
The opposition leader and former prime minister Sali Berisha is also suspected of awarding public contracts to his associates.
Is Diella the solution?
Not really, according to experts.
“Like any AI system, she depends entirely on the quality and consistency of the data and the reliability of the models behind her,” said Erjon Curraj, an expert in digital transformation and cybersecurity.
The exact workings of Diella remain unknown, but it likely relies on Large Language Models (LLM) to respond to queries — similar to the vast amounts of text that power generative chatbots such as ChatGPT or Gemini.
But if input data is incomplete, biased, or outdated, the AI’s decisions will reflect those flaws, and it “might misinterpret documents, wrongly flag a supplier, or miss signs of collusion,” Curraj said.
“LLMs reflect society; they have biases. There’s no reason to believe it solves the problem of corruption,” computer scientist and artificial intelligence specialist Jean-Gabriel Ganascia said.
“Assuming a machine has no biases implies we must submit to the machine,” Ganascia said.
Who has control?
The Albanian opposition has appealed to the Constitutional Court over concerns about who would be accountable for the AI’s decisions.
“Who will control Diella?” Berisha asked the parliament.
Ganascia agrees that questions of accountability and control are key when it comes to AI.
“If public decision-making is entrusted to a machine, it means there is no longer accountability; we are reduced to the state of slaves.”
“What worries me is the idea of a machine governing, offering the ‘right’ answer, and preventing any deliberation,” the researcher, who is also a philosopher, said.
“A politician takes responsibility, but here, the idea is that the machine is perfect, and we cannot go against its decisions anyway.”
Appearing to address these concerns, a decree published Thursday states that Rama “also holds responsibility for the creation and operation of the virtual Ministry of Artificial Intelligence Diella.”
Old corruption, new software
The appointment grabbed headlines around the world, something the prime minister excels at whether by attending international meetings in sneakers, announcing a TikTok ban, creating a Bektashi State modelled on the Vatican, or opening migrant camps to house people intercepted at sea by the Italian government.
But achieving his goals is a different issue.
TikTok remains easily accessible in Albania, only a few dozen men have been transferred to the migrant camps and the initiative’s legality is still being contested by Italian courts.
Little public progress has been made either on the Bektashi State since its announcement a year ago.
As for Diella, whose face is that of the well-known Albanian actress Anila Bisha, who signed a contract expiring in December for the use of her image, it is unclear whether her appointment will survive the Constitutional Court’s scrutiny.
It is also uncertain whether it will comply with the standards of the European Union, which Albania hopes to join within the next five years.
“So far, there is no information about how Diella actually works,” Albanian political scientist Lutfi Dervishi said.
“If a corrupt system provides manipulated data, or filters are set up on what it must not see, Diella will merely legitimize old corruption with new software.”
