Two very different groups gather this week, with the UN's climate summit pushing for further carbon emissions cuts

Police say they were able to identify a suspect in a series of two-decade old rape cases out of Boston using new advances in DNA technology, eventually arresting New Jersey attorney Matthew Nilo and charging him with a variety of crimes. Here’s everything we know. The crimes Between 2007 and 2008, police investigated a series of four different sex crimes that occured involving women in downtown Boston. The victims described being threatened or tricked by a male assailant. One woman said she encountered a man in 2007 she thought she knew who offered to give her a ride as she looked for her car. The man evetually told her to “shut up,” threatened to kill her, said he had a weapon, and raped her near a Boston railyard. The second of the four attacks occured in late 2007, as a woman was leaving a State Street bar following a high school reunion. She allegedly got into a man’s car, thinking it was a taxi, and gave an address of an ATM near her appartment. The driver flashed a knife at the woman and later raped her near Terminal Street. The third incident under scrutiny by police came in August of 2008, when a man allegedly approached a woman on Boston Common and promised her money if she went to the Charlestown area with him, later allegedly holding a gun to her back and raping her. A final attack occured in December of 2008, when a 44-year-old jogger was sexually assaulted, before repelling her assailant by poking him in the eye. Police conducted rape examanations of the first three women and established a DNA profile of the attacker, but didn’t find any matches in CODIS, a law enforcement DNA database. The investigation Last year, police in Boston got a new break in the case. Using a $2.5m grant from the federal Sexual Assault Kit Initiative, they began re-examing the 2000s rape cases as part of an effort to review unsolved sexual crimes, and used new DNA techniques to advance the investigation. Using DNA taken from the original sexual assault examinations, they searched for potential suspects using DNA information submitted by family members to commercial ancestry databses GEDMatch and Family Tree DNA, eventually landing on Mr Nilo as a person of interest. Such tecniques are known as forensic investigative genetic genealogy. FBI agents surveilling the attorney saw him handle a glass and silverware at a corporate event and were able to collect a DNA sample, according to police. The DNA on the sample allegedly matched both the evidence found in the rape kits and on a sample taken from the glove one of the women used to fend off the alleged rapist. Boston Police and FBI agents arrested Mr Nilo in the lobby of a luxury building in Weehawken last week, allegedly telling him “a large package had been delivered to him that did not fit in the ... lockers where the residents pick up packages,” according to prosecutors. The suspect Prosecutors argued during an arraignment on Monday the forensic evidence was a match, with the DNA present on the glove 314 times more likely to belong to Mr Nilo than any other male. Mr Nilo, at attorney who lives in Weehawken, New Jersey, previously worked at the cyber firm Cowbell Cyber in Manhattan. The company told The Daily Mail it has suspended the attorney. “Matthew Nilo was an employee of Cowbell and was hired in January, 2023 after passing our background check,” the company said. “Mr. Nilo’s employment at Cowbell has been suspended pending further investigation.” He attended the University of Wisconsin and got a law degree at the University of San Francisco, according to court records. The rapes allegedly occured when he was home from college on breaks. Mr Nilo’s fiancée, Laura Griffin, 37, has appeared at multiple court proceedings following the attorney’s arrest. She reportedly clutched a set of rosary beads during Mr Nilo’s arraignment. The charges On Monday, Mr Nilo was charged with three counts of aggravated rape, two counts of kidnapping, and other charges. He could face up to life in prison if gound guilty. His bail has been set at $500,000, and the attorney will be subject to GPS monitoring if he is freed from jail pre-trial. Mr Nilo pleaded not guilty. “I do understand that the procedures used by law enforcement are somewhat suspect,” his attorney Joseph Cataldo told The Associated Press outside court on Monday. “It seems that they obtained DNA evidence without ever obtaining a search warrant. If that turns out to be true, that’s an issue that will be pursued vigorously.” Read More Detectives used DNA from water glass in investigation of attorney accused of rapes in Boston Fiancee of attorney linked to three rapes through genetic genealogy stands by him in court Pensioner on trial accused of murdering young woman in 1974

Ukraine’s counter-offensive breakthrough will come as a “shock” to Russian President Vladimir Putin, an expert has said. Mark Galeotti, professor of Slavonic studies at UCL, said Russians had become “complacent” and believed their defence to be more effective than Kyiv’s progress would suggest. It comes after Ukrainian generals claimed troops had breached Russia’s first line near Zaporizhzhia and were gathering momentum in an offensive many observers claimed had failed. Professor Galeotti explained there were three aspects to Ukraine’s counteroffensive gains that would particularly concern the Russian leadership. “One is on the battlefield,” he told The Independent. “It demonstrates their slow, methodical bite and hold strategy is in fact working and has the chance to hammer the second line of Russian defences.” “The second is political,” he continued. “It is also a response to critics in the West who suggested it is time for Ukraine to negotiate because it wasn’t going to make any move. “And thirdly, in terms of the Russians. I think they had started to get a little bit complacent as autumnal rains got closer. I think they thought they had pulled the defence off. “It will come as a shock, but we have seen on the whole the Russians are quite effective in the defence. So I think they’ll be doing what they can to shore up that second line.” Brig Gen Oleksandr Tarnavisky, who leads Ukraine’s southern offensive, claimed Russian troops had devoted 60 per cent of their time to its first defence, and only 20 per cent each into its second and third. He claimed Russia would soon run out of its “best” soldiers, giving Ukraine an advantage to attack “more and faster”. However, Chatham House consulting fellow Keir Giles, who researches Russian security, said there was no sign of “imminent collapse” among Russian forces despite Kyiv’s latest breakthrough. He told The Independent: “There are optimistic noises from Ukraine about whether the offensive might progress a little faster now because they have broken through the first and strongest Russian defensive line. “But that of course does not mean that things are going to collapse imminently on the Russian side, as some have suggested. “The resilience of Russia and its forces remains imponderable. There is no sign of imminent collapse of the Russian economy or society.” Mr Giles added there were signs Russia feels it is in a position to “drag the conflict out” and wait for the Western coalition to collapse. Ukrainian deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said their forces had retaken about 1.16 square miles of land in the past week around the eastern city of Bakhmut, which was captured by Russian troops in May after months of heavy fighting. Moscow has continued to carry out drone attacks on Ukrainian targets including port infrastructure. Last night, 32 Russian kamikaze drones struck the Ukrainian port city of Odesa, damaging civilian and industrial buildings. At least 23 of the Iranian-made Shahed drones were shot down by the Ukrainian military, the country’s Air Force said. Soon after, Ukraine’s defence spokesman claimed some of the drones exploded on Romanian territory. Romania’s Ministry of Defence said it “firmly” denied the claim but reiterated its support for Ukraine and said Russian attacks on the country break “all international humanitarian rules”. General Tarnavisky told the Guardian: “When we started the counter-offensive we spent more time than we expected on de-mining the territories. “Unfortunately, the evacuation of the wounded was difficult for us. And this also complicated our advance. “In my opinion, the Russians believed the Ukrainians would not get through this line of defence. They had been preparing for over one year. They did everything to make sure that this area was prepared well.” On Sunday, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had decided to dismiss Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov from his post and would ask parliament this week to replace him with Rustem Umerov, head of Ukraine‘s main privatisation fund. The announcement, made in his nightly video address to the nation, sets the stage for the biggest shakeup of Ukraine‘s defence establishment during the war launched by Russia in February 2022. Read More Ukraine-Russia war – live: Putin’s forces pushed back in the south as Moscow launches kamikaze drone attack Zelensky needed to sack his defence minister – but it goes beyond just corruption scandals Ukraine's defense minister resigns following Zelenskyy's announcement of his replacement The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary

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