The Western-educated Hun Manet is appointed in a formality long signposted by his father Hun Sen.

West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin on Sunday refused to say whether he would rule out the possibility of accepting a position on a third-party presidential ticket which most analysts say would serve only to help Donald Trump win a second term in the White House. Mr Manchin, a centrist Democrat whose state overwhelmingly voted for Mr Trump in the 2020 election, is considered one of the most vulnerable Democratic senators and would face a strong GOP challenge if he runs for another term in the upper chamber next year. He has also refused to say whether he harbours presidential ambitions at the same time that No Labels, a centrist group backed by GOP donor Harlan Crow, among others, is making efforts to gain ballot access for a third-party ballot line in next year’s general election. The group has suggested they would only run a ticket in next year’s election if the two major parties run “extreme” candidates who leave the broader US electorate wanting a third, more moderate choice. Mr Manchin has been floated as a candidate by some people close to that effort. The Mountain State Democrat has often made a point of taking disagreements with President Joe Biden and the current administration public as a way of highlighting his independence from the Democratic Party at a time when his home state has become increasingly hostile to Democrats. While he has previously said he’d win “any” race he enters next year, he has not yet formally announced a re-election bid, either. He declined to do so once more during a 4 June appearance on Face the Nation, the weekly public affairs show on CBS, moments after he declined to endorse Mr Biden for reelection. Mr Manchin told Brennan he was “not involved in the political process right now”. “Everyone thinks about politics first. I don’t. It’s not about the politics. It’s not about my re-election or anyone else. We have an awful lot of work to do,” he said. “We still have permitting to get done, we have geopolitical unrest around the world. We have to support Ukraine. We have to make sure that we get our financial house in order and get inflation down ... but if you throw politics in, I will guarantee you, you won’t get any decisions on any of that”. Asked whether he was still considering a presidential run, he replied: “Everything’s open. Everything’s on the table and nothing off the table”. He also declined to take himself out of the running for the hypothetical No Labels ticket during an appearance that same day on Fox News Sunday. Asked about the possibility of a third-party or independent bid by host Shannon Bream, Mr Manchin said he was “not ruling anything in, not ruling anything out”. “You better have Plan B. because if Plan A shows that we’re going to the far reaches of both sides, the far left and the far right, and that people don’t want to go to the far left and the far right, they want to be governed from the middle. I think there is, that you better have that Plan B available and ready to go,” he said. Read More Maybe, just maybe, ‘Sleepy Joe’ Biden is good at this bipartisan negotiation stuff Senate passes debt limit bill after marathon 11 amendment votes to avoid default Bernie Sanders was right about the debt limit all along. We know who got us into this mess Ivanka and Jared split over attending Trump 2024 launch – follow live Why was Donald Trump impeached twice during his first term? Four big lies Trump told during his 2024 presidential announcement

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Ukraine has just four weeks to hold a "knife at Crimea's throat" and force Vladimir Putin into peace talks before Russia's army recoups over winter, experts have warned. Professor Mark Galeotti, academic and author of more than 20 books on Russia, said Volodymyr Zelensky’s troops need to move another 10 miles southwards to be in range of striking key Russian supply routes in Crimea. He claimed this is the only “serious” chance Ukraine has to force Mr Putin into negotiations before the Russian army has the opportunity to regroup over winter. “They’ve got about another month of campaign season. But if things slow down, the Russians will use the winter to regroup themselves and the whole thing will start up again in spring,” the professor, who teaches Slavonic and East European Studies at University College London, told The Independent. “If Ukraine can move another 10 miles southwards, Russian road and rail links used to resupply Crimea will be in range of their artillery. “The only serious chance Ukraine has of forcing Putin to the negotiating table is by holding a knife at Crimea’s throat. But I think that is going to be next year’s campaign.” It comes after President Zelensky admitted that Ukraine’s counteroffensive was progressing slowly, but insisted that more territory was being reclaimed every day. “The situation is tough,” he told CBS’s 60 Minutes. “We stopped the Russians in the east and started a counteroffensive. Yes, it is not that fast but we are going forward every day and de-occupying our land.” Ukrainian generals claimed they had recaptured the eastern villages of Klishchiivka and Andriivka near Bakhmut over the weekend. Earlier this month, Ukrainian forces also breached Russia’s first line of defence near Zaporizhzhia in the south of the country, taking the village of Robotyne. This Zaporizhzhia area is a “key” battlefield, as breaking through would allow Ukrainian forces to strike out towards the Sea of Azov, Professor Galeotti said. This would allow Ukrainian forces to disrupt and destroy supply lines linking Rostov-on-Don, in Russia, and the Crimean Peninsula, which was annexed in 2014. But Dr Marina Miron, a postdoctoral researcher at King’s College London war studies department, it was "very unlikely" there would be a major breakthrough for Ukraine this year as its "window of opportunity" was now closing ahead of winter. “The rain is already starting,” she said. “The weather will get a lot worse.” Ukraine launched its counter-offensive in June to push Mr Putin’s forces out of land captured by Russia after the invasion began in February 2022, striking along the 600-mile frontline in areas including the Bakhmut, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia regions. But as the offensive slows it is now “touch and go” as to whether Ukraine can make a “real, pivotal difference” in the war by the end of this year, Dr Miron said. “The main effort will be to sustain troops throughout the winter. Ukraine will not be in a position to carry on the offensive,” Dr Miron added. She explained Ukraine had a “heavy logistical” footprint with German Leopard and British Challenger 2 tanks, but they would be harder to use in wetter, muddier conditions, to assist a full breakthrough. “They’re just not designed for those types of terrains,” she said. “They would risk losing more equipment getting bogged down in winter conditions than waiting it out until getting F-16 fighter jets.” In August, Denmark promised the delivery of 19 F-16 jets to Ukraine. Six will be delivered by the end of this year, followed by eight in 2024 and five in 2025, according to Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen. However, Ukraine admitted it could take up to six months to train its military to use the jets and they would not be in operation this winter. With fears growing around wavering Western support as the war draws on, Dr Miron said: “Neither side have an infinite supply of money or manpower. But Russia does have time. And that’s what they are betting on.” Read More Ukraine-Russia war – live: Putin’s brigades ‘suffer heavy losses’ as counteroffensive advances around Bakhmut Kremlin says Russia and China must edge closer to counter Western efforts to contain them US defense chief urges nations to dig deep and give Ukraine more much-needed air defense systems

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