"I am here to take you home. You are in a safe place" -- Israeli soldiers are being carefully prepared to receive potentially deeply traumatised women and...

The mother is in the hospital undergoing medical treatment and she is in stable condition now

Two Federal Reserve hawks saw the need to raise interest rates further this year, days after Chair Jerome

Former President Donald Trump will campaign Saturday in west-central Iowa as part of his fall push

The US special envoy for Iran, Rob Malley, had his security clearance suspended pending a review of allegations he may have mishandled classified information, said US officials. Mr Malley, who has been leading Biden administration’s efforts to revive the faltering Iran nuclear deal and resolve issues related to detained Americans in Iran, in the meantime is placed on unpaid leave, reported CNN. "I have been informed that my security clearance is under review. I have not been provided any further information, but I expect the investigation to be resolved favorably and soon,” he said confirming the reports in the local media. Two State Department officials said the agency’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security was leading the inquiry, which revolves around Mr Malley’s handling of classified documents. The officials said they learned of Mr Malley’s change in status from paid to unpaid leave on Thursday, shortly after questions about his status were raised at the State Department’s regular afternoon briefing. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said earlier Thursday that Mr Malley officially remains in his post but is on leave and that his deputy, Abram Paley, is currently leading the Iran portfolio as the acting special envoy. It remains unclear when Mr Malley’s leave began. Mr Malley’s whereabouts have raised questions since he skipped a classified congressional briefing on Iran on 16 May. At the time, State Department officials told lawmakers that Mr Malley was on "extended personal leave" and suggested that his absence might be related to a family health issue. A close personal friend of secretary of state Antony Blinken, Mr Malley was appointed soon after US president Joe Biden took office in 2021. He had been tasked with trying to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal after then-president Donald Trump’s 2018 decision to abandon the pact and reimpose US sanctions on Tehran. Under Mr Trump, Mr Malley worked for the International Crisis Group during which he met on several occasions with Iranians and Palestinian officials with whom US officials are barred from having contact. He helped craft the 2015 nuclear deal and, earlier in his career, was deeply engaged in former president Bill Clinton’s failed 2000 effort to broker Israeli-Palestinian peace. During the Obama administration, Mr Malley served as a National Security Council aide and was closely involved in the negotiations over the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. Having failed to revive the deal, the United States has held talks with Iran to try to ease tensions by sketching out steps that could limit the Iranian nuclear program, release some detained US citizens and unfreeze some Iranian assets abroad, Iranian and Western officials said earlier this month. Additional reporting from the wires Read More In Iran, a restorer brings back to life famed Cadillac Sevilles once assembled in the country Iran supreme leader says he'd 'welcome' full diplomatic ties with Egypt; presidency websites hacked US, UK, France demand UN investigate Russia's sanctions-busting use of Iranian drones in Ukraine US sanctions Iranian firm for helping government censor internet Iran nuclear site deep underground challenges West as talks on reviving atomic deal have stalled

With AI rapidly becoming a buzzword across industries, oil and gas companies are exploring ways to use this

Forty-one workers have been trapped in a tunnel in Uttarakhand state for the past 12 days.

Once a low-profile businessman who benefited from having President Vladimir Putin as a powerful patron, Yevgeny Prigozhin moved into the global spotlight with Russia’s war in Ukraine. As the leader of a mercenary force who depicts himself as fighting many of the Russian military’s toughest battles in Ukraine, the 62-year-old Prigozhin has now moved into his most dangerous role yet: preaching open rebellion against his country’s military leadership. Prigozhin, owner of the Kremlin-allied Wagner Group, has escalated what have been months of scathing criticism of Russia’s conduct of the war by calling on Friday for an armed uprising to oust the defense minister. Russian security services reacted immediately, opening a criminal investigation and demanding Prigozhin’s arrest. In a sign of how seriously the Kremlin took Prigozhin’s threat, riot police and the National Guard scrambled to tighten security at key facilities in Moscow, including government agencies and transport infrastructure, Tass reported. Prigozhin, a onetime felon, hot-dog vendor and longtime associate of Putin, urged Russians to join his “march to justice”. ‘PUTIN’S CHEF’ Prigozhin and Putin go way back, with both born in Leningrad, now known as St Petersburg. During the final years of the Soviet Union, Prigozhin served time in prison – 10 years by his own admission –although he does not say what it was for. Afterwards, he owned a hot dog stand and then fancy restaurants that drew interest from Putin. In his first term, the Russian leader took then-French President Jacques Chirac to dine at one of them. “Vladimir Putin saw how I built a business out of a kiosk, he saw that I don’t mind serving to the esteemed guests because they were my guests,” Prigozhin recalled in an interview published in 2011. His businesses expanded significantly to catering and providing school lunches. In 2010, Putin helped open Prigozhin’s factory that was built on generous loans by a state bank. In Moscow alone, his company Concord won millions of pounds in contracts to provide meals at public schools. He also organised catering for Kremlin events for several years – earning him the nickname “Putin’s chef” – and has provided catering and utility services to the Russian military. In 2017, opposition figure and corruption fighter Alexei Navalny accused Prigozhin’s companies of breaking antitrust laws by bidding for around £300m in defence ministry contracts. MILITARY CONNECTION Prigozhin also owns the Wagner Group, a Kremlin-allied mercenary force that has come to play a central role in Putin’s projection of Russian influence in trouble spots around the world. The United States, European Union, United Nations and others say the mercenary force has involved itself in conflicts in countries across Africa in particular. Wagner fighters allegedly provide security for national leaders or warlords in exchange for lucrative payments, often including a share of gold or other natural resources. US officials say Russia may also be using Wagner’s work in Africa to support its war in Ukraine. In Ukraine, Prigozhin’s mercenaries have become a major force in the war, fighting as counterparts to the Russian army in battles aainst Ukrainian forces. That includes Wagner fighters taking Bakhmut, the city where the bloodiest and longest battles have taken place. By last month, Wagner Group and Russian forces appeared to have largely won Bakhmut, a victory with strategically slight importance for Russia despite the cost in lives. The US estimates that nearly half of the 20,000 Russian troops killed in Ukraine since December were Wagner fighters in Bakhmut. His soldiers-for-hire included inmates recruited from Russia’s prisons. RAGING AGAINST RUSSIA’S GENERALS As his forces fought and died en masse in Ukraine, Prigozhin raged against Russia’s military top brass. In a video released by his team last month, Prigozhin stood next to rows bodies he said were those of Wagner fighters. He accused Russia’s regular military of incompetence and of starving his troops of the weapons and ammunition they needed to fight. “These are someone’s fathers and someone’s sons,” Prigozhin said then. “The scum that doesn’t give us ammunition will eat their guts in hell.” A ‘BAD ACTOR’ IN THE US Prigozhin earlier gained more limited attention in the US, when he and a dozen other Russian nationals and three Russian companies were charged with operating a covert social media campaign aimed at fomenting discord ahead of Donald Trump’s 2016 election victory. They were indicted as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference. The US Treasury Department has sanctioned Prigozhin and associates repeatedly in connection with both his alleged election interference and his leadership of the Wagner Group. After the 2018 indictment, the RIA Novosti news agency quoted Prigozhin as saying, in a clearly sarcastic remark: “Americans are very impressionable people; they see what they want to see. I treat them with great respect. I’m not at all upset that I’m on this list. If they want to see the devil, let them see him.” The Biden White House called him “a known bad actor,” and state department spokesman Ned Price said Prigozhin’s “bold confession, if anything, appears to be just a manifestation of the impunity that crooks and cronies enjoy under President Putin and the Kremlin.” AVOIDING CHALLENGES TO PUTIN As Prigozhin grew more outspoken against the way Russia’s conventional military conducted fighting in Ukraine, he continued to play a seemingly indispensable role for the Russian offensive, and appeared to suffer no retaliation from Putin for his criticism of Putin’s generals. Media reports at times suggested Prigozhin’s influence on Putin was growing and he was after a prominent political post. But analysts warned against overestimating his influence with Putin. “He’s not one of Putin’s close figures or a confidant,” said Mark Galeotti of University College, London, who specialises in Russian security affairs, speaking on his podcast, In Moscow’s Shadows. “Prigozhin does what the Kremlin wants and does very well for himself in the process. But that’s the thing – he is part of the staff rather than part of the family,” Galeotti said. Read More Russia-Ukraine war live: Wagner armed rebellion moves closer to Moscow as Putin threatens revenge Mapped: Inside Russian Wagner group’s location and road towards Moscow Furious Putin calls Wagner coup ‘treason’: ‘This is a stab in the back to everyone in Russia’ The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary

US President Joe Biden will use a visit to Hanoi to boost his image as a unifier by saluting the memory of John McCain -- Vietnam War hero, Republican stalwart...

A Kansas man who gained attention for dressing in a full wolf's costume at Kansas City Chiefs games and who allegedly removed his ankle monitor while he was out on bail on a bank robbery charge has been arrested in California, according to a news release from federal authorities.

Janet Yellen defends the US, as stock markets fall after credit downgrade.

A judge has put a temporary halt to South Carolina’s new law banning most abortions around six weeks of pregnancy until the state Supreme Court can review the measure